The Side of Life People Never Get to See
by Mermaid's Lagoon
Summary: Well, Syaoran convinced his clan to let him spend his three last years in high school in Tomoeda. Even Eriol has come back to teach Sakura and Syaoran something. There will be a lot of magic in this one! S.S E.T
1. A Different Kind of School Year

Ok peoples, as usual, please please review! Even just a one word review like, 'good', or 'sucked' would be appreciated.

Any questions about stuff in the story will be answered at the top of each chapter.

_**This is NOT an AU! This is a continuation of life for the entire CCS gang. I sorta made Tomoeda into a very rich community, but that's so Li has reasons to come back.**_

_**Hope you like it!**_

_**E/T, and S/S! **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura, or I'd have continued it by now!**_

The Side of Life People Never Get to See

Chapter 1: A Different Type of School Year 

"Hi, Syaoran? Yes, it's me, Sakura. No, no nothing's wrong. I'm very sorry but I was wrong. I did have something planned for tomorrow evening. Tomoyo convinced me to model some of her debuting designs as an early birthday present. Of course I'll still be getting her something else, but… Anyway I'm really sorry. Mmhm. Yeah, she says she's too used to making wild designs for me that would look hideous on anyone else. Haha, that's what I told her. I know. Ok, I've gotta finish those preparations for our Fall Festival Project. Cool. Yeah, … tell Kero what? Mou…..That's so mean! Goodnight, Syaoran. Yes, maybe next week. Ok, bye!"

Sakura smiled as she hung up her pink phone and fell back onto her bed, laughing about Syaoran's reluctance to hang up the phone. They were talking almost every day on the phone now that he had convinced his parents to send him back to Tomoeda for junior year. Sakura smiled, thinking about how little they used to talk. They understood each other even better now than they had when they were little. Syaoran could even finish her sentences sometimes. The only people who knew Sakura well enough for that aside from him were Tomoyo and sometimes Touya.

She felt flattered that he had bothered to, or insisted that he, spend a lot of time with her the last week of the summer, when he flew in to Tomoeda to get settled for the year. He had regularly treated the 'entire gang' as Wei called them (yes Wei was here as his legal guardian), to dinners and lunches in his new apartment for a whole week.

That week was special to them; Rika, Takashi, Naoko, Tomoyo, Chiharu, Takashi, and even Kero on some days (when just the ones that knew about him were there). During their sophomore year the tightly knit group of friends had drifted apart, despite getting into the same high school.

'Hell,' Sakura thought now, remembering what it had been like, 'Even Chiharu and Takashi's relationship was almost nonexistent for a few months.'

Things had changed so much since their small elementary school. Syaoran had, knowingly or unknowingly, sewed the group together again, and repaired the rift that a year with almost no classes together and difficult coursework had caused.

Sakura betted it was knowingly. Syaoran didn't miss much anymore. Whatever 'special training', as Syaoran called it, that his family, or clan, had put him through over the past few years in his spare time and holidays had definitely paid off. Not that she hadn't liked Syaoran before, but he was definitely more… polished… now. His social skills, when he called them into use, could be stunning. He had obviously been trained in business, and was schooled to be ahead in every subject, especially math, which he excelled at. He was even Takashi's equal in math (A/N: remember in the series math is also Takashi's strong point…). Syaoran seemed so mature now. As Chiharu had mentioned just today, it was even rubbing off on Takashi, which in Chiharu's opinion was a good thing.

'And, of course he's obviously been keeping up with sports and physical training…' Sakura thought with a small smile. It was true. He looked really, really, really good. In her opinion (and she'd never say this out loud), the only word that did him justice was sexy.

'And he can still cook…' She remembered, recalling the sight of him in the apron she walked in on him wearing the first time she had come over for dinner. She was happy that his family had agreed to allow him to spend another year at school in Japan.

According to Syaoran, aside from the fact that his Japanese, which hadn't been accented since he spent a few years in Japan in elementary school, was beginning to slip, the other thing that won 'the elders' (and his mother) over was the school. Tomoeda's schools, which were some of the best outside of Tokyo, were well known for their academic excellence and outstanding teachers.

For which they could thank the rich Tokyo suburb that Sakura and Tomoyo lived in. Tomoeda, whose main attraction was its distance from Tokyo and its relaxed, clean and rich look, had the money to back up its image. Tomoeda was quite the center for businessmen or women that needed to be near to Tokyo, but still wanted to see their families and wanted their kids to grow up well. It was for people like Daidouji Sonomi, or Amamiya Nadeshiko's parents, who didn't want their children growing up in the city, but didn't want to isolate them from the world.

Sakura, in fact, could only live in rich suburb because of the money that her father's digs provided. Kinomoto Fujitaka was more famous than Sakura had realized when she was young. Many of the conferences he was always gone from home to attend were actually digs where his opinions and skills were needed. He was one of the leading world authorities in ancient eastern religions and beliefs.

Her father, who graduated from college earlier than most, had made remarkable finds, sold them for a lot, and then invested well with the money he had still had saved when he left to teach. His investments, based solely on the only business advice Sonomi (Tomoyo's mother) had ever given him, which she had apparently supplied during an argument over stocks in class (she had dared him, the teacher, to take her advice), had a steady flow of money from his investments for Sakura and Touya's schooling by the time they hit high school, and for when he had needed to live in Tomoeda.

(That had been the condition Nadeshiko's parents had provided once they saw their daughter would hate them if they didn't allow her to marry young). The result, anyway, of Sakura living in this rich suburb was a great education, with excellent private high schools. Their public elementary school, which Sakura's entire group of friends had attended, was a fabulous school as well. Although they split for a few years of middle school, they all worked hard to stay in touch and make the grades to get into the only private high school in Tomoeda, which was one of the best in Tokyo (Tomoeda being technically a part of the city).

All of this made the small Tomoeda Academy one of the top five high schools in Japan, and definitely a worthy school for the successor of the high and mighty Li clan of China. Even so, Syaoran would be taking accelerated classes, continuing his training with Wei, practicing magic with Sakura, Kero, or Yue (a requirement which had come along with a contract for the three to sign, which established a certain amount of hours a week to practice), and play for the high school's varsity soccer team (one of the best in Japan).

On top of all that, Syaoran had told Sakura the other day during their magic practice that his mother had said something disturbing during their last call.

Li Yelan had said that the magic training, which was considered to be 'lacking in theory, mechanics, and style variation' (what that meant, Sakura couldn't begin to guess), would be accelerated in about a week for both Sakura and Syaoran. Sakura, Syaoran's mother had said, had been requested to join in the magic tutoring by whatever Magic Sensei the Li's were providing. But Syaoran had told her that the Elders were going to formally ask for her to join the lessons anyway. When Sakura had asked Li why, he had blushed, and Wei had said, "The Elders believe this is in the good interests of the clan."

When Sakura had looked at him in complete clueless bewilderment and asked if they knew the teacher, Syaoran had told her his mother was probably flying down a family member schooled in magical techniques. Most likely to be sure that they were actually testing their magical limits, but somehow, that hadn't been a comfort. But, either way, and despite Syaoran's weird family situations, Sakura was satisfied at the moment.

The only really upsetting part of the situation was the fact that Eriol wasn't there. Sakura and Tomoyo and apparently Takashi as well, remained in contact with him, but Eriol, who was a senior last year, graduating with all advanced courses, even though he was 17, said his situation was too steady to change. They were all sad that he couldn't make it, but they were hoping he would visit. The only thing he had told them was that he was taking a year off before beginning college, and he already had a job lined up. When Sakura asked him why he would take a year off from college to work rather than travel or just study magic, which seemed more to his taste, Eriol had simply told her that it was a job that, quote, '…interested me' end quote.

"Still as mysterious as ever, damn you." Sakura mumbled to herself, her mind shifting to thoughts about Eriol's ways of tricking people. She realized now that what you usually had to look for when speaking with him was what he didn't say or what he purposefully left out. "God, just speaking to him can be dangerous… It's like talking to Tomoyo when she wants something…" Sakura trailed off realizing how true that statement was.

They really were a lot alike, Eriol and Tomoyo. But Eriol had sounded much less reserved ever since his letters beginning about… ninth grade. And Tomoyo-chan was as reserved as ever. Not that she never had fun, she just was … overly polite sometimes. And while that was a central part of Tomoyo's personality, Sakura couldn't help but think that she needed a guy that was laid back to show her how to party a little more. One part of Tomoyo's quiet and polite façade was her 'no dancing' policy. Although that could be just because Tomoyo didn't like the guys, or how they danced with her. After that one dance as a freshman, Sakura couldn't blame her. The guy hadn't even been drunk. It was the only time Sakura had seen Tomoyo get violent. She had punched him in the face, giving him a black eye, after he refused to let her go and kept on grinding against her, just ten seconds before Takashi would have reached him.

Takashi, the only guy that was left in their group after Syaoran and Eriol had left, felt horrible about the whole ordeal. Sakura, when curious as to why he felt so bad, went to Chiharu. Chiharu told her that ever since 'Li' and 'Hiiragizawa' left, Takashi has felt as if it were his job to protect 'all the girls'. She said that Takashi felt he owed it to them.

Sakura shook her head fiercely. She had to get to work. And anyway all that was two years ago.

………………………..At the Daidouji Mansion!………………..

Briiing, briiiing phone rings 

"Moshi moshi?" Tomoyo Daidouji said, picking up her room's personal phone line and setting her notepad and pen down next to her.

"Ah! Hiirigizawa-kun! Oh, I'm fine, but this is such a sudden call. Are you ok?" She asked, wondering why he had decided to call for the first time in a year. It wasn't even close to anyone's birthday or any holidays.

"Nani!" She exclaimed, "Teaching MAGIC? To who? When will you be here? TOMORROW?"

"Well, do you have anywhere to stay? Not yet? Well then you do now. You can have one of our spare bedrooms. What about the house you used to own? Ah, that's right, you've sold it. What time will your plane get in? Mmhm, and your gate number is? Ok, then I'll be there to pick you up tomorrow. Oh… are Spinel Sun and Nakuru coming as well? Oh, suppi-chan wouldn't mind acting like a toy? Great then! Oh, you don't need to worry about it. I'm sure you'll find an appropriate apartment soon."

"Oh, and Hiirigizawa-kun? Nice try, but you still haven't told me who you are teaching. Is it part of some temple program or something. Who hired you?"

There was silence in Tomoyo's room.

"NANI?" Tomoyo squealed, "Oh, you have got to help me get them together then! This is perfect! Oh, hohohohohohohohoho!" Laughing like a maniac she cleared her voice, and then said quite calmly, "Ah, and Hiirigizawa? I will be able to video tape these practices, right?"

There came another pause.

"So you can't permit that but no one would notice if I didn't tell anyone? And you're pretending you never heard me ask? Why thank you Mr. Hiirigizawa, I'm sure we'll be getting along quite nicely. I may even allow you the use of a two spare bathrooms now. One for Akizuki-san and one for you. Yes, this has been a pleasant call hasn't it? Oh, well yes I suppose I had assumed that something like this would be taking place. Once you didn't immediately rush to college. Yes. Yes, well some people have mentioned… oh it wasn't that observant of me. Nani?"

There were a few staff members listening outside of Tomoyo's door by now, after hearing the quiet girl raise her voice and go insane with laughter twice now. Normally, unless she was talking to Sakura about a party, the girl was very quiet.

"Another surprise, you say? As well as a secret you're sure I haven't guessed? Is that a challenge, Hiirigizawa-kun? … Yes well, we'll see. That's a shockingly forward question Hiir- nani? Eriol-kun, then. As I was saying, forward as that question was, I'll still dignify it with an answer. However, that reply must be, a true lady never shares. I'll see you tomorrow. And I'm sure I'll figure out your 'secret'. And I'll get back at you for that comment as well. You'll just have to come with another what? Oh, secret. Well, I have to go call Sakura now, it's about a festival. Oh, no of course I won't tell her. Yes, yes, and I'm sure you're quite aware that I can keep a secret. Hai, even from Li. Yes, I am aware he's not as gullible as he used to be. You're lecturing, Eriol-kun. Hai. I'll see you tomorrow then. Ja ne!"

Hanging up the phone, Tomoyo leaned back onto her bed, hearing all of the staff members scatter away from her door. Smiling, she stretched lazily, feeling happy. She'd have to check with her mother, but she was sure Eriol could stay with them. Testing his name out, "Eriol-kun", and finding it sounded fairly natural to call him by his name after their few years of long-lettered correspondence, she sat up, satisfied.

"Now," she murmered, "To call Sakura and give her all of the ideas she hasn't come up with for this festival, seeing as how she's probably been talking to and thinking about Syaoran…"

Tomoyo picked up her notepad with scribbles of ideas for the festival again, and looked for her pencil, which had rolled while she was talking. Reaching for it and staring at her list of ideas, trying to figure out which one to tell Sakura about, she began some aimless doodling.

A boy with glasses, and a vague sort of smile began to appear next in the picture. Hitting upon a new idea, she began to write rapidly. Her class still needed an idea for a presentation in the Fall festival coming up. She and Sakura had offered to come up with one, and since skits were her class's theme they had been brainstorming ideas for two days now, phoning back and forth and scribbling horrible ideas down. They were trying to do an original skit, and something people didn't think of as a normal fairytale. But this one might just pass off to the school as original.

After all, the idea of a Magician being reincarnated and creating guardians at the age of seven wasn't really in any of the traditional fairytales. And Eriol had told her that both Akizuki and Suppi had been created in the fall. If they told the story of the cards, and shortened it to events the people in Tomoeda would remember, it would seem very clever. Everyone would think they were so funny for incorporating real events in their skit.

Not to mention all of the people who knew the truth would love it!

10th grade was definitely going to be a new kind of school year.


	2. Racing to the Airport!

Right! Time for Chapter Number Two! I'm so excited, because the farther into the story I can get, the faster I can get to all of the really cool parts I'm thinking about!

_**Disclaimer: If I owned CCS, I'd be in Clamp, and I'd be rich, and I wouldn't have to be putting these stories up here. So no… I don't own it... so sad… but, hey, I own the plot!**_

The Side of Life People Never Get to See

_**Chapter 2: Racing to the Airport **_

The morning after Eriol's call from Hong Kong, where he had been signing a contract with his employers and, apparently, meeting Meiling, Tomoyo sat down to eat breakfast. It was time to ask her mother, who had just woken up for breakfast after returning around one o'clock in the morning from a business trip in Europe.

Smiling as her mother entered the room, Tomoyo rose to hug her. Her mother was smiling despite her late return the night before and her short sleeping hours. Tomoyo knew that the people she worked with would probably receive the brunt of her mother's exhaustion.

Striking up a polite conversation, Tomoyo began to serve the breakfast she had made for her mother. The tradition of Tomoyo making breakfast after business trips had begun after an exhausted Sonomi Daidouji, who was normally a great cook, had burned every item of breakfast after spending nearly the entire night before on a plane.

"Yum," Tomoyo's mother said, "I love a good English breakfast! We should really go back to Europe for Winter break, Tomoyo. So many good cities like Paris, and its Louvre."

"Say, Mother," Tomoyo began, "Speaking of England, do you remember my pen pal, Hiirigizawa Eriol-kun? The one who was a student here for a while? Back in elementary school? He graduated as a senior a year early in England, remember I told you that earlier in the summer?" Tomoyo said, careful to not speak too quickly, so she didn't seem too urgent. Play it calm, as if you don't care about him.

"Hm? Oh yes the English boy, the one who's so polite?" Sonomi remarked, questioning, "What about him? Do you know where he is going to college?"

"Oh, well he's decided to take a year off beforehand. He was employed as a private tutor in the area in a certain type of expertise by the Li clan for Li Syaoran. The problem is, he hasn't been able to find a suitable apartment, since they're so expensive, and his cousin is coming with him. He's not quite eighteen, you know, and his parents are dead, and she's his legal guardian. Well, they can't find a place to stay, and they're still looking, but he called to tell me about it. Last time they were here they stayed in a home one of his ancestors had built. But when they left, they never expected to return and they sold it. Well, I knew they had sold it so I asked where they were staying. And, when he admitted they didn't have anywhere to go, I offered to lend them a few rooms. Is that ok?"

Sonomi sat back in her chair, thinking about what her daughter had said. "Of course. I mean, he really has no other place to stay, does he. And we have so many spare rooms…" Sonomi trailed off, looking at her daughter with an odd expression on her face. "When does he get here, out of curiosity?"

Tomoyo blushed and looked down. She was caught. "Today…" she trailed off and looked up at her mother, "In about an hour… He's landing in Tokyo. I was going to have Shina take me."

Sonomi began to laugh. "Well, now that I've said yes, I can't really change my answer can I? And I'll drive you." (A/N: In Sonomi's profile in the manga, it says that her special skill is driving motorcycles and cars).

Tomoyo smiled, suddenly a little more energetic. "Yatta!" She said happily.

"Uh, and Tomoyo?" Sonomi added, "It takes nearly an hour just to get to the airport, you know."

"Hehe," said Tomoyo, "Yes well, I tried to time it correctly, but you got up about twenty minutes later than I had planned…"

"Well go grab a book or something for the car, ok?" Sonomi said, "And I'll finish this divine breakfast you've made me! We'll be taking the big American car since they've probably brought a bunch of luggage!"

Nodding at her mother, Tomoyo began to leave when she turned back. "Oh! I know! I'll bring along that piece Sensei wanted me to perform for the Autumn Festival!" Sonomi smiled and waved her on with her hands, and Tomoyo continued her way up the stairs, pausing to twirl on the landing halfway up.

"Now," Sonomi mumbled through a bite of her food, "I simply _must_ meet the young man who's gotten her so happy…"

………………….Tomoyo's PoV, as she rushes up the stairs

I climbed the steps of our staircase more quickly than usual, because I wanted to be there before Eriol got off the plane, and who knew how bad the traffic was going to be?

Pausing to twirl, I admired the way my long white shirt's ends twirled as if they were a skirt. It was one of my favorite autumn shirts, a white and sort of plain, but elegant, with quarter-length sleeves that flared and black lace done in a pattern similar to a web all over it. It had a slit on either side that ran from my hips down where the shirt ended, halfway up my thighs. It was made of a thinner cloth than most autumn shirts were, since I didn't get cold easily, and I had put a hood on it. The hood looked best off of my head of course, so I never really used it.

I had put on black jeans with white lacework going up either side, remembering that black was his favorite color. I wanted Eriol-kun to feel welcome in Japan, didn't I? These jeans were also one of my designs. I hardly ever wore anything that wasn't. After Sakura had stopped capturing cards, I had begun to do normal clothes for myself, needing something to keep my skills sharp. Of course, I still made outlandishly gorgeous clothes for Sakura-chan!

Reaching my room, I stepped up to the mirror, thinking about what to do with my hair. My music was on the stand against the wall to my right, so I wouldn't really have to look for it, just grab it when my mother called me to leave. 'That gives me enough time!' I thought triumphantly.

Walking quickly to my bathroom, I pulled out of a drawer a darker shade of blush than I normally used (I didn't use makeup all that often anyway), some gray eyeshadow, which would bring out the darker shades in my amethyst eyes, and a light-metallic shade of pink lipstick. I was already wearing some foundation.

I brushed the blush over my cheekbones lightly, just barely shadowing them, using the blush as an accent. I was careful not to overdo it with the gray too. After brushing some gray on the lids, I used a larger blush to blend it around the rest of my eye, and up a little farther than normal. Leaning away from the mirror, I turned my face from side to side, to be sure I hadn't put too much on. No, it looked very tasteful.

Throwing on the lipstick and smacking my lips a few times, I hurriedly rushed on to the task of my hair. It had already been carefully brushed, and pulled back in a cloth headband that wrapped around my head, but I wanted to do something different.

Pulling the headband off, I grabbed a black hair-tie from a drawer below the first one I had opened, I gathered my dark hair up high on my head. I tied it up and then reached into the same drawer for a black ribbon, which I put in a loose bow over the thin hair-tie. Standing back to admire my work I nodded satisfactorily.

"Perfect." I said aloud. I was wearing no jewelry, not even the silver watch I normally wore at all times.

"Oops," I said after a minute of admiring my superb dressing job. "No shoes!" Rushing to my closet, since I was probably almost out of time, I pulled out some black boots, which went to a little above my ankle, and would elevate me two inches. They had white buckles, and looked like combat boots.

Grabbing them and going over to my queen-sized canopy bed, I sank my butt into the down comforter and proceeded to pull them on. I had just finished the first one when I heard my mother.

"Tomoyo-chan!" She called, "We have to go now! Or I'll have to speed even more than usual!" Smiling to myself at her comment, I finished buckling up the second one in record time, grabbed my music from the music stand, ran back in for the small black purse I had tossed my wallet and my cell phone in this morning, and rushed down the stairs.

"Here!" I responded to her cry breathlessly as I reached the bottom of the staircase. Stopping for a second to regain my composure, I walked with my mother to the front door.

"Finally." My mother teased, smiling as one of our maids rushed to the door and opened in ahead of us.

"OH!" I gasped, turning to the maid, Angela. "If Sakura-chan calls, don't tell her where we are. Or if she asks, don't tell her who we're picking up!"

"Of course!" Angela answered, smiling at me. "We'll be preparing the rooms for Hiirigizawa-sama and his cousin."

"Thank you!" I called back and my mother tapped my shoulder.

"Tomoyo-chan, we have to go NOW."

……………………………….In the car……

"M-mother!" Tomoyo sounded scared, and you could see her fingers turning white from the death grip they had on the seat. "Is that speed really necessary?"

"Hohohohoho," Sonomi laughed evilly as she spun the wheel of the car into a sharp turn she had almost forgotten to make, "I haven't had this much fun since my drag racing days!"

Tomoyo shuddered.

……………………………They've now reached the airport! –Tomoyo's point of view….

As my once mentally stable mother turned into a parking spot, perfectly although I was sure she had been going at least fifty when she began to park, I breathed a sigh of relief. We were just in time. We had arrived five minutes before the plane was supposed to land. On the way I had managed to call the airport to be sure the flight would be on time. Lucky for us it was delayed about an extra ten minutes, or we would have been five minutes short.

As my mother and I made a mad dash towards the airport building, my cell phone began to ring.

"Why now!" I said, out of breath and exasperated. Beginning to slow, I shook my head, saying to my mother, "It's probably just Sakura. I'll call her back when Eriol-kun is in the car. That'll be more fun."

Nodding, my mother kept pulling me along. I had thought I was in good shape, but after the long run from our parking job to the correct entrance to the terminal Eriol and Nakuru would be arriving at I was thinking twice.

We finally reached Terminal C and rushed in (A.N: I'm pretending this airport is like mine .).

Since airplane security had been increased, you could no longer meet people at the gate, but since Eriol had already been in this airport I had assumed that he'd be able to find the baggage claim.

The baggage claims for Terminal C were just in front of the door, which made things easy. The problem was which one of the five was Eriol's?

"TOMOYO-CHAN!" I almost fell over when Akizuki-san ran right into me, with arms outstretched. Between her tight hold and my already breathless condition I could practically feel my face beginning to color itself purple with lack of oxygen.

"A-ano..Ak-izu-ki-san.. need air…badly…" Gripped by sanity suddenly, the hyper and super-genki Nakuru let go abruptly. I felt my body, which had been twisted in some odd position when Nakuru had run into me, begin to fall backwards toward the floor.

Begin being the key word. Halfway to the floor I felt one arm fall across my upper back and a hand grip each of my shoulders in support. I breathed a sigh of relief, looking sideways with a slightly surprised look into Eriol's concerned blue gaze.

Bracing myself slightly on the one hand of concern that remained after I was upright I turned to him, still in the midst of regaining my composure.

"Thank you Eriol-kun." I said, smiling.

"Of course. It's the least I could do considering my cousin was the one to almost cause you a fatal head wound. Really Nakuru, must we go over the most basic rules of etiquette so soon after our arrival? You'll make Daidouji-sama (A.N- He is referring to Sonomi) change her mind about us staying here." With one hand still resting on my arm as he scolded Nakuru, he turned to my mother after finishing his brief sermon on manners.

Bowing in greeting after removing his hand, Eriol straightened, greeting my mother politely and thanking her for allowing them to stay. The two made polite conversation about my mother's business as the four of us gathered up the bags, Nakuru 'insisting' on carrying hers after Eriol directed a pointed gaze over his frameless glasses towards her. I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the many bags she had, and picked one of her rolling ones up, since she couldn't carry all three of them on her own no matter how many times Eriol glared.

My mother began to set a quick pace back to the car, with Eriol keeping up. I could tell my mother thought it was amusing that Eriol treated his 'cousin' and 'legal guardian' like that.

Eriol was no doubt trying to make up for the fact that he was imposing on a woman he didn't know, so I took the chance to inquire about Spinel.

"But Akizuki-san, where is Suppi-kun?" I asked, breaking into the constant talking Nakuru had began the moment we set off.

"Oh, Suppi's in Eriol's carry-on bag, the laptop one. Eriol took him out a few times in the bathroom or something… Anyway, like I was saying, the really cool thing about London is… ." I listened half-heartedly, looking ahead at my mom and Eriol.

Staring at the boy who I had written so many letters to over the years, I smiled slightly. It was nice to finally get to see him in person. He was a little more reserved than in his letters, but it was nice to be able to see what he looked like, and not have to imagine it.

Noticing that Nakuru had abruptly stopped speaking, and was staring at my face, I felt a slight blush rise to my cheeks.

"What?" I asked, wondering if she had asked a question, and feeling embarrassed that I had been caught ignoring her chat.

"You were staring at Eriol-sama's ass!" She whispered gleefully, glancing ahead to be sure that the other two hadn't noticed we had slowed.

Stopping completely in surprise, I shook my head. "I was NOT!" I whispered fiercely. Although, now that she mentioned it… I looked ahead for a moment and then turned back quickly towards Nakuru before I could give into the temptation. What was wrong with me?

"You're imagining things." I said, staying calm, knowing that if I reacted with emotion she'd believe I was. God only knows whether she would tell Eriol or not if she thought I had been.

"And why were you whispering? They couldn't hear us from where they were."

"Oh, Eriol's hearing's always been too good. And you're no fun, Tomo-chan, ruining my hopes so quickly!" Pouting she began her talk about England again.

I settled into a faster pace once again, noticing that Eriol and my mother were almost to the car. Listening to Nakuru without really paying attention, I noticed that she didn't really mind whether or not I listened. I had a feeling even Nakuru didn't pay attention to what she was saying. She seemed always aware of her surroundings. It was the same with Yukito, except he talked less to be so aware of his, and he did it without knowing. And during the short times she had seen Yue, it seemed that Yue just was aware anyway, and simply chose not to talk much, preferring to sulk prettily.

As my mother was unlocking the car, Eriol turned back towards us and called in flawless British English, "Hey! Ruby! Hurry the bloody hell up!"

I made a mental note to tell Eriol that my mother had gone to college in England before he said any more comments like that one, and then realized my mother probably wouldn't care that much anyway, seeing how she was grinning. Or maybe she wasn't even paying attention. How had Eriol gotten so far on her good side so quickly? He didn't resemble Nadeshiko in the slightest, and yet she took to him about as quickly as she took to Sakura.

Reaching the car and handing the bag I had been pulling over to Eriol, who loaded it into the trunk, I offered Nakuru the front seat of the car. She happily agreed, and I settled into the back seat of our Suburban after retrieving my music.

As Eriol climbed in, all of the luggage safely loaded into the trunk, I opened my music only to have it lightly tugged out of my grasp.

I looked over at Eriol, who was examining it. It was an art piece by Dvorak, his fifth biblical piece.

"Hmm, not bad. I like Dvorak, don't you? There's something about his music. Do you have an accompanist yet?" I smiled sweetly and took the piece back.

"Well, Eriol, I had been meaning to talk to you about that one. Well ever since yesterday anyway. Since I'm sure you already know this one, relearning it in about two weeks would be simple, correct? I'm singing to audition as a part-time soloist with the Tokyo Symphony, and we're allowed to bring our own accompanists. I have a tape, but since you're so skilled…?"

"Oh, Hiirigizawa-kun, do you play piano?" My mother inquired as I trailed off. Pulling out the gum she had spent this time digging in her purse for she offered some around.

Eriol smiled, taking some, and responded, "Well I suppose one could say I'm fairly accomplished. And Tomoyo-kun I would love to audition with you. I have an audition of my own lined up with them already actually, but I'm sure they don't conflict. I still owe you for allowing us to borrow rooms of your house."

As Eriol smiled at me, my mom started up the engine of the car and smoothly reversed out of the space. She was going at a normal speed, and allowing Nakuru to continuously change radio stations, when she passed through the guard station that lead out of the airport. Hitting the highway, she sped the car up to eighty on the entrance ramp, maintaining a steady ninety after she merged.

Eriol gulped and Nakuru began squealing as my mother rolled down all of the windows.

"Does she always drive like this?" He shouted over the sound of the air rushing past.

"It was worse on the way up." I responded, "Just wait till she gets out of the construction zone…"

_**The End!**_

_**BTW! You usually have to go fifty or fifty five in a construction zone!**_

_**Please review! I wanna know how I should change it or if it's flawed or something.**_


	3. Setting up in the Daidouji Mansion and I...

**_Woot! Back to Sakura/Syaoran although I think I need to do a little more on Eriol and Tomoyo arriving at the Daidouji mansion first. BTW, there's a reason Eriol didn't just use his magic to get the people in his house to move out. Hint, he's planning something that involves certain people…_**

_**The ending –hime means princess. I make Eriol use it on Tomoyo to be overly flattering. Remember they've been writing back and forth for a few years now, so they're closer!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any CCS characters and I don't own any of the Clover characters used in this fic either! And I don't own any of the original plot of CCS!**_

The Side of Life People Never Get to See

Chapter 3: _Setting up in the Daidouji Mansion and Interludes by Sakura and Syaoran_

……………..Eriol's point of view, still in the car…..

Once all of us, or, rather, Tomoyo and I (most likely Spinel as well), had adjusted to the speed, I relaxed enough to listen to the music Nakuru had finally settled on. With each passing minute I was admiring Daidouji Sonomi's ability to be patient more and more. My admiration had begun the minute my supposed 'cousin' had almost killed her daughter.

Nakuru had settled a ballad from about two years ago, by some Japanese RandB singer.

"Love, you might laugh, but to us, the most important word. Love, hear the whisper of the heart," the pop star sang.

Just picturing the wince on Tomoyo's face at the sappy lyrics, I turned my head slightly to see.

Surprisingly enough, however, she was smiling and mouthing along, her head tilted towards the window. Ithought she wouldn't like this kind of music. I had been put under the impression that it wasn't really classy, and for the immature type of teen.

"You like this song, Tomoyo?" I asked her, raising my eyebrows.

"Of course! Ora-chan is the best! I like her group Clover even better though! She and Sue-chan sound so good together!" She smiled at me, tilting her head slightly so that her ponytail fell over her shoulder and down in front of her.

A.N-referencing another Clamp work here! Hehe… the manga Clover is so awesome though I just had to do this!

"You don't think that it's just a little … depressing? Or, I don't know, sort of too sappy and too much about love?" I questioned. Of course she'd like Ora, though. The vocals were always good in her music.

"Yeah, that's what Kaho-san would always say," Nakuru added, turning in her seat to look at Tomoyo, "She disliked most of my favorite songs. The poor girl was _way_ too stuck on boy bands and classical!" Nakuru pouted at me, and I remembered the reason I had begun to think Ora's music was too sappy. "You used to listen to her a lot more before Kaho-san turned you into such a classical music snob, Eriol-chan!"

"Well, I was just being polite!" I defended. Tomoyo smiled more widely.

"Well then, ignoring any opinions that developed when Mizuki-san's taste in music prevailed, what did you used to think of Ora?"

"I'd have to say that I loved the sound of her voice. Vocal criticism isn't my forte, but I was loved her tone. And I thought the lyrics were insightful.I supposeit was my fault for being so impressionable…" I answered her honestly, holding back a blush at having to admit that I could have been so impressionable.

"Oh good!" Tomoyo said as she sat back in her seat, clapping her hands twicein a cute and decisive way. "I'll tell her next time I see her, then."

My mouth dropped. "A-ano, Tomoyo-kun…" I was cut off by Nakuru.

"YOU KNOW ORA-HIME?" Nakuru squealed as she turned in her seat again. The car swerved a little as she turned, since the squeal went almost directly into Daidouji-sama's ear (A/N: Daidouji-sama is going to be **Sonomi**).

"Akizuki-kun, I am going to have to insist fiercely that you keep your volume down when I'm going over a hundred," Tomoyo's mother told her strictly while smiling a little (I could tell from the ways her eyes crinkled in the rearview mirror). Sonomi's patience with such an attitude made me realize growing up around Sakura's mother must have been filled with many girlish squeals and a lot of excitement.

"And to answer your question, I do. Isang with Sue a lot in Tokyo when I was younger, because we met in the national competitions in elementary school and began to put duets together for charities and things in the city. She met Ora when the idol began to date her brother, who is now also in Clover. Kazuhiko, the guitarist, remember? Their band is so awesome now! By the way, Okaa-san, Sue emailed me the other day! She showed Ora my designs and they want me to do their outfits for their concert in Tokyo this winter!"

Tomoyo-kun finished her calm gushing (yes I'm quite aware that is an oxymoron, but it's Tomoyo), and I found myself gaping again. Except this time Nakuru was calm.

Well, sort of. Calm_er_

"Oh I so knew you'd be getting asked to do stuff by now! I remember all the cute outfits you'd make for Sakura-chan back when we were here! I totally have to go to that concert!"

Then Daidouji-sama chimed in, "Oh Tomoyo that's so great! I told you they'd end up asking you after you sent Sue the pictures of the outfits you'd be using for your debut tonight!" Sonomi-sama gushed about her daughter excitedly. The song that had started all this had now changed to some American rock ballad.

"Your debut? And you're designing for a concert? For CLOVER? Someone's been busy building up a fashion portfolio which they haven't mentioned at all in their letters…" I began to grill Tomoyo with questions about exactly how she had been honing all of her designing skills.

As Tomoyo answered as vaguely as she could manage, despite my direct questions, and I began to plan in my head ways to extract information about her proficiency in photography and filming as well, I looked once again at the rearview mirror. Daidouji Sonomi was smiling again, and I had a good guess as to why…

Halfway through Tomoyo's talk about her designs her cell phone rang.

"Oh!" Tomoyo gasped lightly, opening her purse. "I completely forgot to call Sakura-chan back!"

Tomoyo's mother added loudly, turning down the radio, "She got a call on our way into the airport, but she didn't bother to answer since we were so rushed and we already knew who it was."

"Moshi moshi?" Tomoyo inquired, her cell phone held to her ear, "Ah, Sakura-chan I'm so sorry. Yes I know you called earlier but I was too late to reach my phone. I meant to call you back but things just… yes. Oh yes, they were right, I was at the airport. Yes my mother and I were picking up a person who is going to be renting out a room in our house. Oh, well he's sort of family, but more of a friend of the family… Of course. In fact, I believe you'll even get to meet him later on today. I'll bring him to the lunch before the photo shoot. Remember, don't be wearing any makeup, because we get to do all of that. No, he's going to be staying in the area for a while, because he got a job teaching. I'm sure you're going to be great friends, he's quite pleasant. Oh, the giggles you're hearing? His younger relative is coming along, but I don't know how long she'll be staying… Ja ne, Sakura!"

"Well that was a nice bit of maneuvering," I commented once she had hung up.

Tomoyo had managed to tell the truth with everything she said. She was too late to reach the phone because since she was late to the airport she didn't have the time to take any calls. I suppose I was renting the room, because I was going to offer to pay anyway, which Tomoyo most likely knew. I was both family and a friend of the family, because Sakura was Tomoyo's family and I was friends with both, plus I was the other half of the man Sakura's father was reincarnated from and legally Tomoyo was related to Sakura. Not to mention the fact that if Sakura and Syaoran married Syaoran would be related to Tomoyo by law and I was related to him by blood by virtue of the fact that I was Clow. And the giggles, which had been Nakuru snickering in the background, were from a younger relative because I had used my blood to make Nakuru, so she was younger. And Tomoyo didn't know how long she was staying because she didn't know how long I was staying (which she had neatly avoided stating).

"Yes I thought you'd enjoy that conversation." Tomoyo commented. I had to admit that it was impressive she hadn't lied once. Well if you counted the whole reincarnation bit. "You get to surprise Syaoran at the photo shoot too, by the way, since I'm sure he'll show up to surprise Sakura."

"Ah, is he finally trying to ask her out?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes, and I think you'll be surprised at the change in him. The Li's must have a pretty rigorous training schedule for the man who'll be the head of the clan soon, because he's very… polished, now." She leaned over to whisper to me, "He might actually know you're here. I have a feeling he's much better at sensing things now. You hiding your aura from Sakura will probably work, because you're good at it and she's not always alert, but Li's senses have been much sharper since he got back. Just a warning…" She straightened, and we both ignored the large smiles on the older two ladies faces (although Nakuru isn't really a lady or older).

'Yes,' I thought. 'Daidouji Tomoyo is most definitely the person I came here to find.'

………………..In Syaoran's apartment………….

A sudden shiver passed through the body of the teenager seated at the table. It ran up his spine and was gone in a second.

Syaoran, who was immersed in a book, paused and closed his eyes to sense more deeply the tingling feeling that was tickling the outer parts of his magical mind. It had started about thirty minutes ago, growing steadily more uncomfortable. He had actually scratched his head a few times.

"Hmm…" He said aloud, tapping his number theory book a few times as he spoke to himself, "Someone's definitely trying to hide their aura. Wow it's a pretty twisted one… Mother did mention a magic sensei but i didn't realize… Oh. Kami, no." Realizing who the aura belonged to Syaoran began to slam his head repeatedly into his book.

One of Syaoran's special talents was his ability to sense magic and aura's. Apparently it was something about how he used moon magic and the sensitivity of the moon...

It was rare for anyone within a certain amount of distance from Syaoran to hide any magic from him. Naturally, his clan had decided to train this talent rigorously, and it was now honed to near perfection. He hadn't been as good at it in elementary school as he was now, but he had only ever felt one aura that complex and that powerful. Just like he had never felt an aura more simple and … well, straightforward, than Sakura's father's.

The phone rang suddenly, interrupting Syaoran's trauma. He sighed and reached over the table to grab the cordless phone that was mounted on the wall.

"Moshi moshi?" He said somewhat cautiously. He half expected it to be the sadistic reincarnation of Clow, calling out some new annoying nickname. The habits some sensible people picked up from their mentally instable, sexless, humanoid guardians… Although Eriol wasn't exactly sensible. He was more the cunning and sadistic type.

"Ah, Syaoran-kun? It's Sakura!"

Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief and began to pace slowly around his apartment.

"Are you ok? You sound stressed… Anyway, So I was just on the phone with Tomoyo… It was so weird because she said she'd call me this morning, but then she didn't, and so I called her and she apparently had to pick someone up from the airport. It was all just so weird though… I dunno. Normally she'd be totally stressed about the outfits first thing and call and then relax around lunchtime... I wanted to know if she mentioned it you to? The person she went to pick up, i mean.She sounded super happy, but normally she'd be telling me all about any relatives coming to town about a week before and then not mention it again until they arrived. And she sounded so vague and she kept contradicting herself… It was just a feeling, really, but I felt like calling you up." Syaoran raised his brows, impressed once again by Sakura's intuition, and yet complete confusion.

"Maybe her mother didn't tell her, so she was confused? And no, she hasn't told me anything, but I bet her mother planned it as a sort of surprise. Ano, Sakura? I made some plans for the rest of today, since you couldn't do anything, so I'm really sorry, but I have to go now. I need to get this work done, or someone is going to be very disappointed." Syaoran replied, his pacing having taken him in a full circle around his apartment.

Sakura sighed on the other end of the phone, "You're probably right. And I should finish my essay now, so I don't have to work on it tomorrow. Ugh, I hate doing homework in the mornings. Sayonara Syaoran."

"Ja ne Sakura."

Hanging up the phone again, Syaoran sat down again and frowned thoughtfully. Tomoyo had sounded happy… But normally Tomoyo was very good at hiding her feelings, unintentionally, even. Everything was kept hidden by her thoughtful tone and slightly curious look. And why would Tomoyo be so happy when the only person in the car would be Hiirigizawa… honestly… Well there was Akizuki also, but she was more annoying than something to be excited about.

Syaoran began smiling, realizing the fact that although Hiirigizawa Eriol was weird and creepy and hundreds of years old mentally, he was very similar to Tomoyo.

"She just had to make things complicated, dammit… Although… this may make Tomoyo a little happier… Doesn't he play piano?" Syaoran began to smile faintly, considering things he hadn't really thought of before. "Oh crap." He said suddenly, losing his smile.

"I forgot they both take joy in screwing with other people's heads…" Syaoran shuddered, thinking about how much damage they could do between them.

"Hmm, I suppose I'll have to find out more when I call her to see where Sakura's photo shoot is..."

…………..To Sakura in her Room……

Hanging up the phone, Sakura plopped back onto her bed, pouting.

'Hmm,' She thought, 'Who would he be meeting...' Sakura shot up suddenly. 'What if…'

"He has a date!" She pulled her knees into her chest, sitting in the ultimate magical girl depressed kawaii pose (A.N: that's what I call it cause it looks cute and sad…).

"But… I thought… What if he doesn't feel that way about me anymore…?" Sakura shook her head sadly, considering for the first time the fact that Syaoran might've just been spending time with her to make them friends again, and not the something more that they were the time he came back for two weeks with her teddy bear. (A/N: See the very last book of the manga series for this scene…).

Tearing up and trying to fight the sad feelings swamping her, Sakura fiercely stood, marched over to her desk, and began composing her essay on a sonnet from the seventeenth century. Needless to say, the essay was extremely critical of all of the sappy love lines the poor poet used.

"Dammit, first Tomoyo, now Syaoran… Why the hell don't I know who my friends hang out with on Saturdays!" She could be heard mumbling fiercely every few lame lines or so. "And why does my head keep itching!"

A.N-don't worry, she'll get wise to it eventually… she never could sense much until Syaoran warned her about it in the manga, remember? Well, she wouldn't know what it was anyway, although she'd usually sense it…

……………………Back in the Daidouji home…

"-And here is your room" Tomoyo finished, opening the door to the fairly large room.

Eriol's room was next to Nakuru's and across from Tomoyo's. Eriol thought that it was very well-placed.

"Um, the closet that isn't a walk-in is full out outfits. Sorry about that, but its one of the ones that I've recently had to put to use, seeing as how I've used up most of the others. But lucky for you it's the one that has mostly male clothing. Some of it might even fit you," Tomoyo added, looking Eriol over in a professional way. "Mainly I was using Takashi and Li's measurements, and you look somewhere inbetween."

Eriol looked at her.

"How many clothes have you made since my cute little descendant arrived?" He asked her, a little startled.

"Oh I had Meiling give me his measurements early so I could start on a tux for our prom this year and his outfit for the homecoming dance. And anything else this year, since he probably wouldn't have ever given them to me, thanks to that dress I made him for the elementary school play. I had a great idea for the tux anyway, and since I'm going to make sure he's with Sakura by then, he's just going to have to look good! Anyway, how do you like the room?"

Eriol looked around. In the center of one wall was a bed with a high black iron headboard and the bed had an iron frame. The bed's colors were grays, dark blues, and blacks. The molding that lined the place where the walls and ceiling connected was a gray color, and the walls were cream. The curtains were a sheer gray with a dark blue scarf wrapped around an iron window rod. The window was large, so the room didn't seem dark at all. The furniture set was all dark wood, and it included a writing desk with an electric lamp that was designed to look old-fashioned, a pair of bedside tables, and an armoire with a large mirror. Basically, the entire room was very well designed. And it fit him perfectly.

Eriol stepped forward and walked toward the bathroom, which was connected to the room. It had dark blues and pale blues and silver as its colors. The towels looked very plush, and they were a navy shade.

Turning and crossing the room briskly, Eriol opened the door to what was the walk-in closet. There was lots of hanging space, room for shoes, and more drawers. Turning just as abruptly as he walked towards the closet, he approached Tomoyo, picked up one of her hands, got on his knees (strategically placing himself so the light from the window made his hair shine a pale gray blue), and brought the back of her hand to lightly brush his lips.

"My lady, I don't think even my former self at his height of his social career could have understood the kind of hospitality Tomoyo-hime was offering when she said yes to my horribly inconvenient question. And I'm very sorry but if Nakuru's room is anything like mine I insist on paying for the rooms," continuing on through Tomoyo's shocked protests (she was blushing also however), he added "And staying here for the rest of the year. If it's ok with you anyway."

The last part was directed to Sonomi, who stood in the open doorway. She was smiling widely and was surrounded by the heads of five maids who had poked their heads around the edges of the door's frame. The minute Tomoyo began to turn her head to the door, the heads disappeared, leaving only Sonomi in the doorway for Tomoyo to see.

"Ano, it's up to Okaa-san, really, but I wouldn't mind. Oh, and you shouldn't insist on paying it would be rude of us to ask for that." She said, grasping at what remained of her dignity, half of her mind focused on how he could possibly have gotten her that off balance in the space of a few minutes.

"And really Eriol-kun, you don't need to be that dramatic." Sniffing slightly and then smiling as she pulled him back up to his feet, she stepped back.

"Well I think maybe we should discuss this further after our guests get themselves situated. If you truly enjoy the rooms that much I would love to have you stay. And I agree Hiirigizawa-kun that rent would be a good idea if you are actually planning to stay that long. I think I'll quite enjoy having more company around the house. It needs a little something to liven it up. I'll be downstairs in my study sorting through some papers, so come down as soon as you've gotten yourself unpacked. I assume you can probably be trusted by your guardian to work out the living arrangements?"

Raising an ironic eyebrow with her last statement as Eriol nodded, since he was obviously more levelheaded than Nakuru, Sonomi nodded decisively and disappeared from the doorway.

Tomoyo turned back to Eriol.

"Now I should leave you to get unpacked. Um, for lunch I thought I could take you and Nakuru to a very cute café further into town. And if you don't mind I thought you'd both like to come to my debut. It's some shoots for a magazine. I showed them Sakura's picture and they agreed to let me use her as the model. I'm also calling to tell Syaoran where it is before he calls me to ask. So you see why I think it may be a good idea for you to go, ne?" Smiling as Eriol nodded his agreement she turned and walked out of the room, giving a little wave as she left his room.

….Back To Syaoran………………..

Smiling as he hung up the phone after taking Tomoyo's oh so informative call, Syoaran collapsed onto a couch.

"Well," he said in response to Wei's inquiry on what had gotten him to smile, "For one thing, Tomoyo's sounding quite excited compared to her normal state. And, I just found out where Sakura's shoot is taking place. And I've been invited as an onlooker by the designer. So I don't have to pay my way past the gaurds!" Losing his smile he continued, "Of course I also have to put up with a distant ancestor. Damn…"

_**The End **_

…_**of this chapter anyway!**_


	4. Photo Shoot and Day 1 of the Visit

**Sorry it took so long, folks… I just sorta lost touch with the CCS characters. But I love this story so much I can't leave it alone.. I've written pieces of the next four chapters already! It's awesome, so I'm excited. I need feedback on the relationships between S/S and T/E, because I dunno if they're all authentic yet. Thanks!**

Disclaimer: I don't own it or there would be pictures or videos to go along with my story.

**Chapter Four- The Photo Shoot, Eriol/Nakuru/Suppi's first day back!**

Tomoyo leaned into Eriol as they left the restaurant, grasping his arm gently with both hands and giggling into his shoulder. They had left the café while Nakuru was in the restroom. The moment she had bounced off Eriol had waved over the waiter and paid the check in cash. He had ushered Tomoyo quickly and gently, albeit firmly, from her chair outside and guided her out the small gate at one end of the outdoor seating.

"And, three, two, one…" He murmured to Tomoyo as they walked quickly away from the scene of their escape from Nakuru's incessant, but pleasant, chatter.

"Ah!" Came an indignant squeal from around the corner, followed by a voice full of false hurt, dramatic and loud. "Daidouji-kun, how COULD you?!"

"Ano…" Tomoyo said, looking back with a guilty expression, pausing in her walk and releasing Eriol's arm. He opened his mouth…

"Run?" she finished weakly. Then she turned forward and turned to the right, grabbing Eriol's hand before dashing down an alley that would lead them closer to the site of her photo shoot. Despite her mother's talent at track, however, Tomoyo was not exactly physically inclined, and she heard Nakuru's footsteps pounding ever closer as she led Eriol through her hometown. They neared the park where she and Sakura used to walk home as elementary students and she turned in, following the path.

Suddenly she felt Eriol's hand leave hers. Two arms closed fully around her waist as she was yanked sideways. She felt her feet leave the air and then she felt herself moving diagonally against the wind, sliding back against Eriol, who still grasped her firmly, pushed into place by the air as she flew to the left.

Odd words were whispered, sliding through her hair, carried by Eriol's breath past the right side of her face.

Then she felt foliage brush against her skin and a slight impact as they landed somewhere in the middle of a leafy bush. She was cradled by Eriol, who had tucked her in close to his body so that he felt all the impact. The couple sank a few inches into the ground upon landing, and then rose back to the surface, as though they had landed on a large pillow.

"Shh." Eriol murmured, shifting out from under her gently, sliding out to her right so that she was laying on her back on top of the ground, which was still soft as though a cushion of air lay between her body and the dirt. One of his arms remained on her waist, his right hand laying idle on her side. The left arm was propping him up, elbow straight and hand pushing on the earth beside her head, a considerate distance from her hair, now in disarray and tossed round her face. He was leaning over her slightly, and their legs were still not untangled. Keeping her eyes on the bushes they had hurtled through, she breathed in silently as the thundering footsteps barreled past. As they faded into the distance she found herself coming out of her shock and getting a little angry. After all, she had to look professional and presentable in about five minutes, and laying in dirt was not exactly helping her to gather her thoughts for her debut. Her growing anger began to melt as she turned her eyes on Eriol's. His eyes were fixed on her face.

"Two paths converged in a park, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." He whispered, in a serious voice, completely grave aside from something in the way he was gazing at her now. Something that reminded her of his young face after he had convinced Chiharu that Takashi actually was telling the truth, babies did come from pink and blue storks raised by Mrs. Claus. Tomoyo's lips twitched and she inhaled deeply once again, not knowing whether to laugh or huff in mature impatience.

"Do you know, I think I'll let Syaoran draw his own conclusions when we show up at Sakura's photo shoot looking disheveled, not to mention accompanied by a Nakuru yelling and squealing about finding us cushioned on the ground behind a bush and how you're corrupting me. Of course, she'll probably be referring mainly to the fact that we left her in the restaurant, departing without a word, disregarding our manners completely, but she doesn't usually stop and go into detail, now does she?" Tomoyo said sweetly, watching approvingly as the flush he had gathered while running drained slowly from his face as he appraised the situation which could be awaiting him.

"Do you know," He began in English "You actually scared me with that. Think what your mother would do if we entered your house with Nakuru still yelling about that. After doing my best to evade Syaoran, I'd be completely helpless." Tomoyo nodded happily, imagining her hair being avenged first by an unsuspecting and clueless Syaoran and then her mother, Eriol having to lie low like a fugitive.

"It would appear I'm at your mercy." He said calmly, gazing down at her. A fond look came over his face and his lips stretched outward. "And yet, not exactly…" He drew the hand next to her face through the dirt lazily, as though idly sketching in the ground as while he spoke. He then moved to stand, grasping her by the forearms and pulling them both into a standing position just in time. As they straightened the pillow of air Tomoyo had been cushioned upon rushed upward, smoothing their hair and wrinkled clothing back into order. Tomoyo's hairband popped out, but her hair was neatly blown into a side part, bangs raked off to the side.

"I love that combo." Eriol said wistfully and appreciatively as he drew her back onto the path, stepping around the foliage lining it. "A mix of Arab and English. The cushion lies beneath us so that no dirt or leaves stick to our clothes and then is designed to rush up at an appropriate angle so that we look no more than slightly windblown." Tomoyo leaned back over the bushes to see, but the air had wiped out whatever he had written in the dirt.

"Were those…?" She trailed off looking curiously at him. They began walking, "And what keeps Sakura, Syaoran, and Nakuru, who's very attuned to your magic, from sensing it?"

"Oh, well Arabic magics are extremely subtle and flexible. It's thanks to the language really, it's descriptive but open to interpretation. My magic interprets the words the way I want them to. It keeps the spell specific and my control absolute, but allows me to cast quickly if I know exactly what I need to occur. I spent so little magic that it could probably only be sensed by someone standing only a few feet away. As for the writing, it was only the angles I wanted to pillow to rise from. You're probably the person who I most don't want to anger here, not to mention the fact that you scare me the most." She smiled disarmingly and innocently up at him and he returned it with a skeptical, but fond, look. "Your grasp of the concept of revenge is absolute and merciless, my dear. It was in my best interests to return you to the gorgeous lady you were before we launched ourselves through the air." He answered idly as he led her further down the path. Talk of the spell had calmed her mind, set it to solving another one of the puzzles of magic. She was feeling in the mood to dress up and tape Sakura as well, since her mind still associated talk of magic with Sakura in cute costumes. In fact, she realized as he spoke, he had kept her mind off of the photo shoot the entire day.

"I'm sorry, WE?" She addressed his final comment. "More like abducted me to avoid getting run over by Nakuru in an overenthusiastic game of tag which, in fact, you began. And by the way, Eriol-kun… thank you." She said before he could respond. He turned to look at her, slightly surprised. "I feel like I'm ready to walk straight up to my camera and clothes and take complete control of everyone there. You've gotten me so excited about dressing up Sakura that now my mind is totally focused. I'm so glad we went for lunch!" She smiled charmingly. They turned the corner and found themselves in the midst of an entire crew beginning to set up for Tomoyo's debut, hampered by the presence of Nakuru as she flirted with the guys doing the heavy lifting. "Ok, so I'm going to go make sure the make-up girls are ready for Sakura. Eriol!" She said sharply, facing him and grasping both his hands, gazing up at him entreatingly. "I expect you to keep Nakuru away from anything she might ruin completely until Sakura starts trying things on and being fitted. Then she can squeal and coo all she wants. Thanks so much!" Tomoyo said, squeezing his hands gently and smiling up at him before turning to stride up to a group of ladies setting up chairs, tables, and electric beauty devices all over the clearing.

He sighed and turned his formidable intellect to the challenge now facing him.

……………….

Sakura arrived twenty minutes later, late by only two minutes. She had noticed Eriol's presence halfway to the park, and had to hit the brakes on her skates before she tripped right over her own feet in shock. Her mind had been wandering and as she approached the park she had idly wondered whether Tomoyo and Eriol would go with her to get ice cream afterwards to celebrate.

She ripped off her skates the moment she reached the park, yanking rainbow flip flops out of her backpack and shoving them on her feet and zipping her skates into the bag in record time before flying off towards the growing crowd that marked the shoot. She ran right up to him and he released his grip on Nakuru when Sakura was merely four feet from her former magical benefactor. Nakuru and Sakura collided in a massive hug with loud squealing two seconds later. Nakuru finally stepped back, curious to have a real look at the maturing Cardmistress, who was now nearly the same height as the tall magical being. Said young lady abruptly vanished the minute she was released, having launched herself directly at Eriol.

The two embraced like long-lost siblings or cousins finally reunited. After a little while Eriol realized that Sakura was repeating something under her breath.

"Oh thank god, thank god!" She pulled back and he could see her eyes tearing up slightly. "Eriol you just made everything absolutely perfect! Life has been so good since Syaoran showed up that it drove everything from my mind…! But really, everything's been so horrible since starting high school. Everyone's drifted, and Tomoyo… I just-" she hugged him tightly again and then pulled away, "I can't think of what to do or say. She's just not as animated unless she's working like a demon and even Syaoran can't seem to do anything. I'm the only one she's really friends with here. She's fine when she's performing and she's got friends in her 'industries' but I just- I don't know Eriol, but I feel like I'm just not smart enough to help! She anticipates any movement to get her excited about stuff or trick her into shopping over work or trying something new. Your just so good at… well, you know, persuading… or manipulating… maybe you could?" Sakura stopped, embarrassed, and backed away. Eriol frowned for the first time since returning to Tomoeda. He cared for Tomoyo a lot, saw much of himself in her, or the personality he had that wasn't just Clow, but as a kid who had another life's worth of experiences inside his head, maturing and learning how to balance fun with a new way of thinking and living wasn't exactly his most difficult problem.

His frown also hid the slight disappointment he felt. While he commended Sakura's intuition in telling him, knowing he was the one that could help, her sudden embarrassment was a very bad sign. The girl he had known should not have been embarrassed to come to him for help about anything, or worry that it wasn't his problem, not if her natural instincts had decided so strongly that he needed to understand what was wrong. Usually Sakura didn't know she was doing the right thing until she just did it! And now, feeling embarrassed showed that she didn't trust her intuition, that she was maybe embarrassed about her magic. It showed how distant she must feel in everyday life from the friends that had been so close to her at a young age, as well, because her urgency told him just how sad she had been. Even when he had visited in middle school, she had been the same, just taller, smarter, maybe a little more mature in her thinking. Her personal ideals had been developing then. He could hear how lonely she had been though, even a cheerful girl like Sakura who was probably everyone's best friend at her school.

"Hehe, Gomen, you know how I can just be so emotional and chaotic sometimes. You know it's just one of those stressful days what with my modeling and all. I mean Tomoyo and I haven't really done the whole modern clothes thing, well, ever! Not like this, anyway, for something real. And I feel like I'm just getting into this whole modeling thing, my mother, you remember she used to model? Well she started all the way back in middle school and-" Eriol covered her mouth and smiled reassuringly.

"Sakura don't be silly. I don't need excuses. You and Tomoyo are two of my favorite people in all the world. I consider it my responsibility to ensure that Tomoyo is no less than the happiest person in the world before I leave her side again. You can hold me to that. I'm sure it will be no easy feat, what with my distant cousin back in Tomoeda to sweep you off your feet." He winked at her as her face filled up red. Just then Tomoyo hollered her name, seeing the girl at last.

"Oh!! Oops, heh, now I really am late." She said turning and running towards Tomoyo, who immediately rushed her straight into makeup, shooting Eriol a reprimanding glance for distracting her main model.

Nakuru looked bewildered and worried at the Cardmistress's actions and words.

"Eriol…" She said thoughtfully, "I really haven't seen anything to make Sakura worry so much. Tomoyo seems perfectly happy, if pretty reserved in her actions." Eriol's mouth twisted wryly, not in happiness.

"Yes, well. Who wouldn't cheer up wildly upon seeing friends from around the world. I bet she enjoys it when her mother's in town as well. And don't forget that Syaoran came back recently as well and it's the end of summer, a very relaxed time. I've already begun working to loosen her up, but already I think I understand what Sakura means. Sakura herself has struggled for the past two years, however, Ruby. You can tell… my cute little cousin was gone a little too long." He closed his mouth and Nakuru could see his genius analyzing what he had seen and learned of their lives, past and present. "Ah, well. Nothing that can't be solved by myself or Syaoran, especially not now that we're both here together. I think I may need to find an excuse to be present around school as well, Nakuru." he smiled smugly. "So I suppose it's a good thing that I already made the necessary preparations..."

……………………

Nearly thirty minutes later Sakura's hair was finally styled and her 'light' makeup was almost complete.

… As was Nakuru's. It had been the only way to keep the 'woman' distracted for not even an hour.

Tomoyo was currently rummaging through the rack of approved clothes by the young girl's magazine which had awarded her the five-page spread. The magazine was for fashion and music, aimed at teens and based in Tokyo, not small but not the largest either. The deal was that they selected the outfits Tomoyo could use out of the ones she gave them. They had allowed her to pick her own models, and although she had worked with a few other girls aside from Sakura, Tomoyo had been determined to stick to just her. If they liked her things, then she would be invited to participate in the

"Ok ladies I need Sakura over here NOW!" Tomoyo called, yanking her head out of her masterpieces. Sakura was hurried over to the screened-in changing area and Tomoyo hauled her in and closed it up. She tossed all the outfits on and off Sakura and examined her from every angle. After a few minutes she stormed out.

"Dammit it does not look the same! I really want to use those two outfits in the beginning and end too! Frustrated she whirled, and her eyes fell upon Nakuru.

"Hm." Tomoyo paced towards her, a calculating and dangerous look in her eye. "Edgy look, edgy make-up, tons of energy… tall. Skinny. Tall. Hmmm." Nakuru sat with a scared look on face, looking for all the world like a rabbit caught in the gaze of a wolf.

"Yes!" Tomoyo exclaimed triumphantly. "I'll make it work, goddammit! Ladies are you finished?" The makeup girls nodded, confused. "I'll be taking her then, thanks!"

Dragging Nakuru into the changing tent, Sakura looked up, still dressed in the last outfit Tomoyo had left her in. Eriol, gazing with raised eyebrows at the tent, lounged against a tree, sipping a bottled lemonade and staying a safe distance away.

Meanwhile in the tent: "Oh wow, Sakura-chan you're as tall as me! You're like, the same height as Touya! How kawaii!" and "Hold still dammit Nakuru or I'll stick you with a needle!" and "Ano, Tomoyo, she has whispered no chest!" long pause. "Yeah but it's perfect for this edgy outfit… and if I throw this over, then!" …. "Ooooh, yeah, that looks crazy, she looks awesome in the ruffles on the second outfit too." Then "Yeah, I know, right? I'm brilliant. And lucky. God I can't believe this worked." Sound of jumping, "Yay, I get to be a model like Sakura-chan!!"

Nakuru emerged first, dressed in a top that had a neckline that went straight across from one shoulder to the other in a straight line. The sleeves both began on her arms, due to the fact that the shirt was off both shoulders. The shirt was made of good material, dark green with a thick shiny border at the top and bottom of silky material in black. The sleeves were short and puffed, only attached to the shirt by two short strips of cloth, and each was collared by another strip of silk that buttoned together to ring each arm. The front of the shirt said Cherry in diagonal cursive letters, printed in cream with black stitched outline. An image of a butterfly was superimposed over half of it in black and grey embroidery. The shirt ended far down Nakuru's long waist and halfway down her miniskirt.

The skirt was a jean-skirt, black faded denim with red stitching and red lace ruffled in three short layers at the bottom and underneath, making the skirt pop out. On the shirt there was a piece that attached in the front in two strips of cloth, which formed a V from the center top of the shirt out to around her neck. It was basically a hood that wrapped around and attached to the shirt, causing the shirt to appear like a halter top with small pouffed sleeves. The hood itself was bordered in thick black and the entire top was embroidered over in black and grey, forming a butterfly that wrapped around from the front to the back. The outfit had short lacy gloves, black and fingerless. Nakuru wore black boots that were large and baggy, although reached up only to nearly her knees. They had red lace ties that laced them up from ankle to top, and bagged at the ankle. On her legs were deep, dark, almost black-green mesh stockings. Tights and miniskirts were all the rage in Tokyo street fashion this year.

Nakuru's hair was a red, messy, high ponytail. Her makeup was MAC, so her eyes were edgy and loud, lined in a deep sparkling emerald and highlighted with an electric red, edged in pearl that traced around the eyes to the cheekbones, which were made gaunt with a darker blush. Her lips were blood-red.

Eriol came over, as if to tell Nakuru how good she looked and then commented loudly, "Oh, Nakuru, shouldn't you put your piercings in?" Tomoyo poked her head out excitedly, to see a Nakuru with ears full of studs and a simple stud nosering, one set of dark red ruby pendants on each ear. "Ah, thanks Eriol, that's a wicked touch!" She said excitedly in English before popping back in to Sakura.

Eriol left Nakuru admiring herself in front of a mirror to walk and meet Syaoran's approaching presence at an entrance to the park. Seeing his distant relation approach was odd. Syaoran had grown into exactly the person Eriol knew he would. He was still headstrong and passionate as he was when he was younger, but the sense of responsibility, honor, and duty he had shown in aiding, protecting, and caring for Sakura at a tender young age was still with him. Syaoran looked as though he was almost finished growing into himself, comfortable with his skills and a young man who knew his limitations and how he would stretch to make his horizons grow. It was quite the opposite from the person Eriol had seen Sakura now was. Sakura looked the way Eriol was sure Syaoran had before growing up. Except Syaoran had a clan full of people who told him exactly what they needed him to be and himself and hopes and memories of Sakura to remind him of what he wanted himself to be. Guidelines for his soul, Eriol thought wryly.

"Hello, Hiirigizawa." Li greeted in English, stopping before the boy/ancestor.

"Hello yourself relative." Eriol answered in Chinese, bowing slightly in deference to Li's polite greeting in Eriol's supposed native language. He realized that Li was exactly his height and build, albeit more muscled with a different coloring. Even their bone structure looked identical. The realization was slightly disturbing. Straightening, he continued mildly, "You appear to be already every bit the heir and informal leader of the Li clan, which makes it all the more impressive that you convinced them to allow you this extended study abroad. I commend you on the person I see you becoming, cousin." Syaoran looked a little surprised, and Eriol continued, "You used to be very cute and naïve, like Sakura-chan. I still find myself quite fond of you, but now you seem to be someone very difficult to manipulate or fool. I quite approve."

Syaoran found himself feeling irrationally proud of himself for a second. His face became less severe and more open and friendly. Despite Eriol's role in events when Sakura was younger, after Sakura had changed all the cards into Sakura cards he had always been a friend. Although that time was short, he had been sure to visit both Tomoeda and the Li's in China since then. Li had judged him, post-Near Apocalypse, to be at the very least, a sincere and helpful, if distant, friend. Li still harbored a natural waryness of Eriol's cunning and manipulative mind, but only in the same way he was constantly conscious of Tomoyo's ability to maneuver people. He hadn't seen Eriol in at least three years, and now, examining a mind much the same as the one he had encountered in young Eriol Hiirigizawa's body, he found that it finally appeared Eriol's body had caught up to the brilliant mind and maturity it harbored. It made the Li heir feel considerably more at ease to finally feel as though Eriol looked his age.

"I'm honored to have earned that, Eriol-kun. It feels right to have you here, terrified as I was when I felt you approach Tomoeda." Li sighed and looked past Eriol for a second. "Please tell me you did NOT bring Akizuki?"

Eriol smiled and shrugged slightly before replying.

"Well then I suppose I'll have to walk you to where Sakura and Tomoyo without answering that question. And by the way, YOU may want to hug HER, Nakuru, I mean, because Tomoyo's gotten her dolled up for a part in the shoot. If Nakuru launches herself at you and you duck Tomoyo will kill you for ruining Nakuru's look." Eriol smiled expectantly at the growing look of displeasure on his distant relative's face. Some things just never changed…

……….

Meanwhile, as Syaoran arrived, the girls had finished getting suited up.

The other outfit for Nakuru was now laid over one of Tomoyo's adjustable manikins for use in a joint picture with Sakura. Tomoyo had, upon snatching Nakuru, rearranged three of the shots in her head. The five pages would begin with Sakura and Nakuru in casual punk street clothes, move on to Sakura in another street outfit, Sakura in an outfit suitable for girls in nice schools on their off-days, Sakura and Nakuru together in dresses, and Sakura in a street dress and jacket that looked awesome on her.

Nakuru's other outfit was a dress that zipped up the front, satin and black with red embroidery. It had a high satin collar that circled her neck widely, standing straight up in the air a good three and half inches (wonderful for the girl's high neck) and met with ruffled black and red mesh in the front coming up a few inches straight out from the top of the dress to finish the wide circle around Nakuru's head. The sleeves were backed in satin and pouffed but the front half were done in red lace. The dress tapered in at the waist and the skirt of it ended by angling down in the back so that the front ended at mid-thigh and the back ended at the knees. Nakuru would wear a pair of strappy black heels and black stockings.

Sakura was finally into her first outfit, a black stretchy miniskirt with a large triangle of magenta fabric draped round it. An intricate gold sun was embroidered on the magenta portion. Sakura had on black tights that sparkled gold and ended in black and magenta boots that went up to her knees. The boots were swathed in the two colors, very baggy looking with sturdy heels. Her top was a button up with pouffy elbow-length sleeves made of a thin material. It was dark grey silk, and the collar bent over the top of a black vest which lay over it and laced like a corset in the middle of her abdomen. Dark pink ruffles spilled out of Sakura's chest from the edges of the collar and the top undone laces on the corset, which was laced in magenta and had pale gold beading.

Sakura's makeup was milder and based more on pink. Her lips were a silvery-pink and her eyes were lines in magenta with a neon pink eyeshadow and pale sakura-blossom sheen on the outskirts. Her hair was curled and pinned up on one side so it spilled onto the other shoulder. Her ears wore small simple gold rings, one on each ear.

"Syao-kun!" Sakura squealed in excitement suddenly as Tomoyo was tugging at one of the boots. She had just sensed his presence overlapping with Eriol's near the site. "He came?! Hoe! Demo, he said that he was busy later, that someone would be disappointed if he didn't finish his work..." she trailed off as Tomoyo laughed softly at her. Sakura hadn't really been too cheerful when she had first shown up, and upon hearing this Tomoyo realized why.

"Of course he meant you, baka." The dark-haired clothes fiend said absently as she rearranged the ruffles that fell over Sakura's chest. "Now go out there and blow his mind with this frilly, but sexy outfit that I created for pacing through designer shops. I guarantee we'll see a never before seen shade of red grace his lovely little foreign face!" She laughed haughtily and evilly to herself as she threw one of the jackets she had traded in last-minute back onto the rack. Sakura 'Whee'ed in excitement and walked off quickly and impatiently to see her beloved (well, eventually anyway) Li. Tomoyo watched her go, amused.

"You know, I was honestly thinking she would never find enough hip action for a walk like that... I'm impressed! I wonder if she realizes she's executing a perfect and drop-dead gorgeous cat-walk over grass? Prolly not, I bet she just doesn't want to mess up the clothes by running to meet Li, but still wants to get there quickly." Tomoyo mused aloud. "Well, at least now I know I can use her later on in my career, if she's willing. Go me for having such a multi-talented and fabulous Sakura-chan as my best friend!"

Nakuru pulled out her most sexy, secretive, and dangerous smile, examining the reflection in front of her and added, "Now if only Touya were here I'd have someone to impress, too. Honestly Tomoyo some of the men out there are cute but not one of them has enough magical power, latent or otherwise, to interest me for any length of time. I'm so disappointed… I'll just have to think of how gorgeous I am while posing for my photo." Tomoyo laughed at her taller companion and dragged her, with surprising strength, away from the mirror set up inside the tent, and out to where the camera equipment was waiting.

……….

Syaoran, who had been appreciating every inch of Sakura's leggy outfit, with discretion of course, ever since she grabbed his hands excitedly and squealed a thank you to him for coming to support her and Tomoyo, reluctantly stayed near Eriol during the photo shoot. He wanted to make absolutely sure that Eriol wasn't watching Sakura more than Nakuru… after all, he had given her a flower on their first day of school, a much more forward move than glaring at her from across the room as Syaoran himself had done.

Sakura had been dragged away from the two boys in order to lounge with Nakuru on a black couch that had been set up against the railing separating the path from the water of the lake where the Illusion card had once appeared. The girls took a few seconds to get a vibe going, but before long they were feeding off of each other's energies. Tomoyo was in her element, calling orders and cheering the girls on while snapping up shots and adjusting the lighting.

They moved on from outfit to outfit. First Sakura was in an ivory and brown summer dress with green floral patterns, laying a hand on a tree and leaning in with her face tilted towards the camera, as though the tree was sharing its secrets with her.

The second shot was the first real shocker for Syaoran. It was Sakura in Tokyo street-clothes, looking like she was strolling the streets of Harajuku. She came out in a number that was frilly and cute, reminiscent of the pieces Tomoyo made when she was younger. Except it had a very hard edge. She was the picture-perfect image of Lolita and goth chic-wear. The skirt was cut horizontally, and was black over gray petticoats. It cut from almost her left knee to a little over halfway up her right thigh. Gray and off-white lace arced around twice, looking ripped, but in whole, long, streams. There was a bow skewed to the side on the back that was off-white lace. The top of the dress was a cream peasant top with a tight black silk corset that tied on her right side, opposite the bow that was placed on the back of her left hip. The black silk came to halfway up her breasts and then the peasant top was visible, forming a square collar. The sleeves of the top bagged over themselves halfway down her forearms so the cuffs were hidden.

Sakura had on knee-high gray lace stockings, edged in a slight black ruffle. She was wearing black velvet wedge three-inch pumps with a small open toe over these. Her hair was down with one off-white lace over black headband to hold her strands in place. Her green eyes looked nearly green-gray, altered by the gray eyeshadow and cream dust around her eyes. She had an extra layer of dark blush on her cheekbones and a light playful peach-red color on her lips to keep her face youthful. There was a single large hoop on each ear, silver with black lace curling around it.

Syaoran looked at her and his carefully neutral face filled up slowly with a pink hue as his jaw clenched. She looked absolutely gorgeous. She was cute and flirty, but definitely not looking like she was a young girl. If anything she looked like a college student who managed to pull off a young high-school look successfully.

"My," Eriol began appreciatively, "Our Tomoyo certainly does good work. Sakura looks as though she lives in Harajuku… I wonder if they'll give her one of those lace parasols that were very in a bit back. It would be such a nice vintage touch… ah, there it is. Trust Tomoyo to have it covered. That prop completes the image of a wicked-looking yet naïve fashion princess." Eriol kept up a slow but constant stream of conversation about the goings-on as the shoot picked up pace. Sakura was posing on the gravel path with the parasol behind her head, the gates of the park in the background.

"And what made you certain that Tomoyo was trying to achieve that image? What if she wants Sakura to look like one of those rich ill gothic children who read too much manga and wander around the cosplay neighborhoods? And when did you learn about fashion, anyway?" Syaoran said. He examined Sakura and found that the look didn't look sloppy on her, she made it look lighter, but attractive. At the same time it made her look as though she was older, and dressing youthfully, but with taste.

"No, Tomoyo knows Sakura's personality is so bright that she can lighten the usual Harajuku street look and give it wearable flair in a photograph. The grays and creams in the outfit make it look as though you can wear it all around Japan and not only in the streets of some big city in a neighborhood full of cutting-edge designer wares. The look is perfectly constructed to sell to maximum number of young girls and young women." Eriol explained in a very approving tone. "I love the vintage touch she gave it. The outfit is very Tokyo, and yet Western audiences would really approve, and not just brush it off as yet another gothic Asian design. And please... I live with Nakuru and it's impossible to tune her out ALL the time."

"Sakura looks so…" Syaoran said, watching her as she leaned against the ladder of the tall children's slide, arms entwined in it, parasol partially opened and hanging from her fingertips. Her thin athletic body, which was made ladylike and graceful by the dress, was contorted in a visually appealing manner and she looked as though she was reminiscing about some childhood secret. She suddenly seemed, to him, like a mysterious ever-changing creature, one he had known a long time ago, when it was young and not so complex. The personality reflected on her face was mature and adult. Her eyes and the nostalgic and amused secretive expression made him feel as though her soul encompassed the entire universe. It looked to him as if the image Tomoyo was catching was this entity reacquainting herself with another piece of her soul. She did not entirely appear to be Sakura Kinomoto, but she emanated from every inch of herself the strength of character she wielded while acting as Mistress of the Cards. Without realizing it, Syaoran continued to voice his thoughts out loud.

"I keep thinking that she really, deep down, hasn't changed much. Maybe it's comforting to think that because it helps me feel as though I haven't been away long, or missed much. And Sakura and I, we always click, no matter what changes we've undergone… I tell myself I know her true self, though, what she is at her core, the unchangeable part of her. But now I'm honestly realizing there are new parts of her personality blossoming. I can't just try and catch up on how much she's grown from what she was. She's also changed from the girl I knew to this new person who I may like and I may not. It's not really black and white like we'd have liked to believe. Looking at her now, it's not that she seems like a stranger… so odd. I think I was expecting her to be like this all the time, but when she wasn't I forgot that… and I still have this feeling that there are so many more pieces to her that she hasn't even discovered yet." Eriol cut off Syaoran here, smiling to himself smugly.

"Yes well, one usually gets that impression when talking about a teenager who isn't done growing." Eriol inserted.

Syaoran gaped at him. "How did you do that? Why… I don't understand why I was talking out loud. I'm not the kind of person to just talk about my feelings, Hiirigizawa! What exactly did you just cast? I can't feel anything…" Syaoran looked suspiciously at the tall young man lounging against the tree, facing him. Eriol shrugged helplessly.

"Well, I've found that as I mature, I've accumulated many of Clow's more… latent abilities. While he was a brilliant and gifted sorcerer it seems that he also exhibited signs that people without magical gifts exhibit, but on a larger scale. I would say the thing it most closely compares to would be Touya Kinomoto's intuition about when he's needed and where he needs to be at what time in order to protect Sakura, or Yukito, for instance. Except I've noticed that people tend to simply speak out loud when normally they'd mull over something in silence, or simply confess to me honestly as though I'm trustworthy when normally they'd find themselves agonizing over something emotionally painful. It's no specific spell. It's simply just as though my honest face draws them to confide in me." He smiled benevolently at Li, who looked as though he was torn between snorting in laughter and crying.

"I can't think of a worse person for fate to hand that to. Your honest and trustworthy face my Chinese ass." Li muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I can't believe I got caught up in that even though I distrust you completely."

"You know," Eriol began, "Most people really do think I look honest and straightforward. You are one of the rare people who sees right through it. I'm sure it's just because you're so blunt you see right through my pleasantries in your attempts to discern what it is I'm really saying. In other words, you're exceptionally and chronically paranoid. Now doesn't that make you feel good about yourself? You sound so emotionally stable." Eriol grinned benignly as Syaoran glared at him and stomped over to a different tree as Sakura returned to the tent for another costume change.

"Ah. So I suppose he was so frustrated with her mistakes in catching the Cards because he expected her to be as flawless as she became as she grew into her power… interesting. I doubt Sakura-chan feels that way… no I'm sure he was subconsciously not understanding why she wasn't operating at her full potential. She, on the other hand, seems more the type to see instinctively what he would become in time. Honestly, I'm starting to think her subconscious is omniscient, but she herself knows almost nothing. I'm sure every time she sees him he's just closer and closer to perfection, since she doesn't really remember what he'll be, although she's on some level expecting it. Of course, that could be less because her subconscious is omniscient and more because Syaoran is a very simple fellow. Not very complex, that boy. No real shocking surprises in how he ended up, no massive personality-altering moments or sharp corners in his road of life. Bit boring until he pulls out his sword and elemental magic, if you ask me." Eriol mused aloud to the tree he was leaning on. He heard her small laugh as she enjoyed his conversation. The branches rustled despite a lack of wind in appreciation of his company and Eriol patted her roots fondly as he settled down into a sitting position to wait out Sakura's costume change.

**This will continue next chapter, which will be out shortly, as it's written down on paper but not yet in my computer! And by shortly, I'm thinking maybe a day or two maximum. Not a year or two like last time, hehe…**


	5. A Day or so of Eriol

**Told ya'll it would be soon… Should I change this to a Tomoyo/Eriol fic? I just love them both in this… but really the longer it goes on the more it'll be about those two getting Sakura and Syaoran together… Saku's just such a great main character person! Tomoyo's holding the spotlight now, but only till I get her emotional rollercoaster in order, promise!!! **

**Disclaimer: it's not mine! Oh god I wish it was…**

**Chapter Five- Dreams, Preliminary Lessons, and School! **

The shoot finally ended with Nakuru and Sakura in killer evening dresses, Nakuru's longer and more elegant, and Sakura's more edgy but sophisticated. The girls had both laid over the railings, walked the top, and posed on them. The crew had Oo and Ah-ed them, but it was no difficult feat for the two 'magical girls'.

Tomoyo stayed late to break down the site, waving Eriol and Nakuru's offers of help aside after ordering Syaoran to walk the exhausted Sakura home. Eriol and Nakuru retired to the house to be fed by the marvelous Ryoki. Tomoyo came in later and dashed down a small meal before setting up all the work she had accomplished on her computer. She didn't actually look at any of it before she went back to the main house for sleep, making an executive decision to examine it all tomorrow.

Upon reaching his room after getting the maid Angela to show him the entire house, room by room, in a tour he hadn't had time to receive before, Eriol found himself severely affected by the jet lag. He spent about an hour and half unpacking and moving things around in his new room before he heard Tomoyo finally enter her room. He set up the laptop he had brought with him from home and then decided it would be more polite to wish his hostess good night, seeing as how Sonomi had already retired to her large suit by the time he and Nakuru finished eating. Apparently she got her sleep whenever she could afford to, what with her constant traveling between Japan and other countries for business.

He stepped over to the room he was fairly certain was Tomoyo's and leaned on the doorframe. She was seated in front of her large mirror and make-up counter, brushing out her waist-length hair. Eriol found himself momentarily mesmerized by the smooth, even motions. His hands lifted slightly in response to his absent thought about what it would be like to comb his hands through her hair, pull it away from her neck. As soon as he moved, he came back to his senses.

"Good night." He said carefully, before he lost himself again. Tomoyo's eyes found his in the mirror, and he saw her reflection smile as she paused in her brushing.

"Dream well, Eriol" she responded in English. He realized belatedly that he had, once again, slipped up and addressed her in the wrong language. He inclined his head towards her, crinkling his eyes warmly. It felt so easy to smile from his heart at all of his old friends. He hadn't remembered how often they had caused him to smile, simply because they were all so enjoyable. He hadn't just been smiling to manipulate them in order to aid Sakura. It was nice to remember what it felt like to not use his smile as a cover for another emotion. He felt cleaner.

He turned into his room, having already said his good nights to Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, who were bunking together tonight. He hadn't felt much like conversation or reading. Nakuru could sleep through anything however; even Suppi's intellectual mutterings as he perused ancient texts in the lamplight of night.

Eriol changed slowly, going through the motions as if already asleep. He paused in front of the mirror, examining his face and hair. His hair had darkened a bit as he passed through an early puberty. It still had a blue hue, but was not as light grey-blue as it had been when he was young. His voice was a nicely set baritone. He could speak lightly, be deep and calming, or booming and angry. He knew this because Nakuru had a different imitation of him for each of his 'moods' with a special voice to match. His face was still leaner than Clow's had been. His body was not yet as tall or as broad, but getting there. He overall appeared more leanly built. While he had been taller than Syaoran when they were younger, he was now the same height almost exactly, but Syaoran had more muscle on him. Eriol's face was no longer round and smiley. He appeared more trustworthy, honest, and sharply but entertainingly intelligent, less cute and cuddly.

"Which I suppose is a very good thing." He said, sighing and pulling back the covers of the large and comfortable bed. He sank into it, giving a little groan upon feeling how comfortable the down pillows were. His last thought as he fell asleep was, 'Not that any of this helped with Kaho…'.

The next morning Eriol woke at his usual time, somewhere between 7:30 and 8. He dressed and showered quickly. He began descending the stairs just in time to see Sonomi, a small suitcase, one briefcase carrying a laptop, and two bodyguards, one holding open the door and the other standing at attention near the luggage, as they prepared to leave. He continued to make his way down slowly, nearing the bustle, through which at least tow maids were scurrying back and forth, looking busy. He was pretty sure it was Angela and Shina, although he couldn't be sure. Tomoyo entered from the kitchen and Sonomi, who had been speaking at a furious speed into her phone, said a curt goodbye in German and then hung up. She and her daughter parted, saying a short but sweet farewell.

Eriol remained where he was, paused since Tomoyo entered, a silent observer. Tomoyo watched, smiling and waving from the door, as her mother departed. As soon as the front gate began closing, Tomoyo said, turning towards the kitchen, "Eriol, would you care to join me for breakfast?" She disappeared as he reached the front foyer, now very suddenly empty, and entered the kitchen through the same door Tomoyo had used.

Breakfast was relatively uneventful. Tomoyo informed him that she had to spend the entire day going over the photos; editing them, choosing the best ones, preparing a select few to present to the people who ran the magazine. She did inform him that although Sakura was a counselor for a half day summer camp held at Tomoeda Elementary during Summer Break, she would be off in time to get lunch with Eriol. She also told him where Syaoran lived, since the Li had nothing he did until the afternoon. Apparently he had already tried out for and made the boy's Varsity soccer team, which had been practicing the entire first week of school and continued through the weekend.

"Yes, they're the only team in school that begins this early. Our team almost made it to Tokyo for the National Semifinals last year. With Syaoran on it now we should be a shoe-in. Oh, and Chiharu and Syaoran apparently convinced Takashi's parents to let him back on the team." She said off-handedly "And, sorry about this, but don't forget all of us have school again beginning tomorrow. It's our second week. Not much happened so I didn't have too much work to do this weekend, but we are assigned more and more as the year progresses. So be sure to plan Li and Sakura's lessons around school and keep the homework in mind." Eriol winced at how motherly she sounded.

"Wait, what about Takashi? Were his grades falling? He never mentioned it… All I knew was that he wasn't doing it last year, he made it sound as if being President of your grade interfered." Eriol inquired curiously.

"Oh no," she answered, "he's up near the top of our class with Chiharu, as usual, "his arents are just extremely strict. Well, what can you expect? He and Chiharu are in an arranged marriage, after all, so we should have guessed they'd go at least that far to be sure he focuses on grades first. I know people at school who have parents worse than his. Takashi's so easy-going and slippery to catch in anything that he handles them pretty well. Of course, Chiharu's parents aren't that bad at all, since she lives here with her Aunt and her parents stay working in the City year-round. Her Aunt's actually pretty lenient so long as she stays up at the top of our class and her test scores continue to improve. And Chiharu's got such a forceful personality… did you know she does hip-hop dancing? The American style? Apparently she's great… I didn't even know until the end of this summer." Tomoyo continued as she put her dishes in the dishwasher. Her hands stalled as she frowned to herself over the disappointment of not knowing about Chiharu's dancing, but she kept moving, forcing her mind to return to the topic of her day. "I'm actually going to start working now. I'll be in my workroom if you need me. The staff knows where it is. The only people here are Ryoki and Angela. The others arrive a little later, maybe in an hour or two? Nakuru and Suppi-chan have at least two or three hours before they'll be disturbed if they'd like to sleep in." She left the room pretty abruptly, through a different door, and Eriol was left alone.

He left soon after, content to pace Tomoeda on foot, dressed in a blank dark blue t-shirt and pale jeans with comfortable tennis shoes. His feet took him first past his old house, which wasn't far from Tomoyo's mansion, and then towards a neighborhood full of shrines, temples, parks, and apartment complexes. His focus was not on his path, however. Instead, he contemplated Sakura's words to him yesterday and Tomoyo. The Tomoyo from yesterday and the one he had seen this morning, much more reserved and reciting only the most basic of polite information in order to keep him out of her hair. Not even willing to look him in the eye or laugh with him. It didn't seem as though she was mad… more as though she had, due to the early time, reverted to what she was usually like from day to day. How she was accustomed to acting, not after he had been careful to cheer her up.

'Hmm… because she spends so much time living at home with only a staff? I suppose she can't treat them entirely like family, although she seems fond of them all…" he mused.

It was only just now occurring to the young man what a joyful day yesterday must have been for Tomoyo, despite the stress. It was the day of her first professional photo shoot, dressing up her favorite subject, Sakura! It was also a day of fun with three old friends AND one of the days her mother was in town. Not to mention the fact that Syaoran was recently returned. Life must have seemed pretty good. Then along comes the early morning with the prospect of a week's worth of work in a single day, the last one of summer break. She suddenly doesn't have the time to see anyone, her Mother leaves for Germany first-thing, and it wouldn't matter if she was busy because with Sakura busy in the morning and Syaoran in the afternoon she can't even try and matchmake them.

"I bet that's what's bothering her the most." Eriol laughed aloud, "The fact that they aren't together yet and she hasn't had a real chance to help it along. Hmm, so yes that all sounds about right. I'm sure I'm missing some of the extra female problems and psychological flourishes, but aside form that…" he leaned against a tree in the shade. In his mind, he felt Suppi, always a late sleeper, and Nakuru, still affected by the jet-lag between China and Japan. They had, after all, barely had time in China to recover from flying there from London. Looking around himself, he realized that he was almost to Syaoran's apartment, the last place Tomoyo had given him directions to. In a woody park that led up to the back of the complex, actually, if the images in Tomoyo's mind had been projecting were correct. And he suspected they were. Tomoyo's wind had a keen eye for detail.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. He leapt into the tree above, slinging himself up.

"Might as well get there the fun way," he thought, a wicked light dancing through his eyes as he smiled, shrouding his aura carefully, dampening its already subtle presence and camouflaging it amongst the magical energy around him which tied to every living plant and being.

……..

Syaoran, just dressing from a shower he had taken after his usual morning workout, froze in the middle of pulling on a shirt. The subtle presence of Eriol Hiirigizawa, which had been drifting around in his mind, getting stronger slowly but surely, had vanished. Dragging a loose button-down blue pinstriped shirt on over a black t-shirt above his cargo shorts, he headed out towards the main area of his flat, exasperated but opening his senses as soon as he stopped dressing.

He automatically locked in on Sakura, Wei in the apartment three doors down, and Tomoyo. He then noticed Nakuru, Suppi, Kero, all in their powered-down stages, with muted magical signatures. He shortened his search, magnifying his concentration to detail and pulling his magical sense in so that he examined only the immediate area around his building. Li's mind flipped through a dozen different ways to sense magic, as though trying on many different tinted lenses one after the other, changing 'colors' until he found one that showed him what was hiding. Finally he located an area of- well not really anything. In any random place on Earth there would be a certain amount of magic around, coexisting with the life in the area. But the energy in this spot was shifting here and there. It was like looking at a moving person and only seeing the objects they dislodged as they moved. The disturbance occurred again on the porch of his apartment building and he flung open the back door of his flat using a single-character wind spell. The sliding door led from his room to a balcony/porch which had a view of a park and nearly touched the tree branches of the wood behind the complex. Li was back in his room before the door even finished sliding out.

Eriol stepped in, longish hair minorly ruffled and shirt untucked, but otherwise seemingly not affected by his jaunt through the treetops. He looked not even a bit out of breath, but stretched lazily upon entering Syaoran's room, as though to continue loosening his muscles. "Hm." He began, "Not bad, although I wanted you to be on the porch waiting for me. The old you would probably have had his sword on hand simply as a precaution. Actually the old you would have dressed in full Li clan regalia the moment he felt me anywhere near his apartment…"

"The old me wouldn't have known you were nearby at all." Li answered, mildly irritated to have to deal with the odd Eriol this early in the morning.

"Don't sell yourself short, cousin. A few years ago you were incredibly suspicious and paranoid of everyone, including a fine upstanding gent like myself, who had only the most honorable of intentions towards you and your young lady. Trust me when I say your intuition was so good it nearly frustrated me." Eriol smiled cheerfully as he made his way further into the apartment, under the watchful eye of Syaoran. "Of course it wasn't as impressive as Sakura's but since she doesn't really realize when her intuition and instincts are ruling her actions, the natural denseness amazed me as much as the natural talent did." Li's mouth twitched at that. How true…

"Let's add that sword to the list of items you should have at the ready whenever I decide to sneak up on you, shall we? Still, as I said before, not bad for my prelesson. I believe I might even mold you, although I have to say that I'm certain Sakura will be the one to earn the title of 'star pupil'. Oh just think of all the fun we'll have. And with Daidouji 'sneaking in' to film… there will be no escape. From the passion I'll inspire in you, my pupil, for the subject of course. I'm sure you will crave my attention and wise knowledge and advice." Li's face twisted into one of shock as Eriol's words registered and then horror as his mind began conjuring up the images of having the sadistic Eriol and the matchmaking Tomoyo scurrying around Sakura and himself, forcing them to work till they were nearly dead and then forcing them to act out a soppy love scene in which he wore a dress and Sakura brandished the Sword card. Shuddering he pulled away from his thoughts. Remembering what Eriol had mentioned about his sword, he held up a single hand.

Upon his left wrist was a something that resembled a charm bracelet woven out of cords. From it hung three amulets, and the entire thing was sporting the Li family colors. "Tell me you didn't seriously think that I'd open a door to my home unarmed." Syaoran said.

"My dear sweet, mild, well-mannered descendent, why on Earth do you think I said ADD it to the LIST? I was not simply referring to the blank checklist of things I will be compiling in the future for you, but also to what you already carry. And the sword isn't on that, that particular model sports only small weapons, daggers, throwing knives, and… let's see I think that last one was for stars." Eriol answered, without taking even a single glance at the bracelet Li had held up. "Trust me you'll thank me for this one day… Maybe. Who knows, times aren't as dangerous and uncivilized as they used to be. Supposedly. Either way, next time I see you the sword will be there, pupil." Eriold finished, looking every bit the stern teacher as he gave Li a strict look over his frameless glasses. Li nodded minutely, looking resigned. Eriol smiled cheerfully, satisfied, and walked past his relative towards the front door.

"Oh." He said, turning back. "A comment, since I'm hired to teach you magic in its theory as well as refine your practice. This thought probably hasn't occurred to you yet, but I'm sure you'll be resentful of having to learn to do things you did naturally when you were younger after the first few lessons. Don't feel as though you've gotten the sore end of the deal by trading a youth's intuition for skill achieved through hard work. Although control and skill are much more difficult to attain, they're much more reliable. Your intuition, and Sakura's as well, was always good, but this way there is less hit and miss. For example, in sensing magic in other people, magic of other types and of similar types, it is better to be skilled in recognizing other magic-users. That way you and Sakura will know why you feel good when you meet people like Yukito… not that there are other people like Yukito and Yue… Nevertheless, if Sakura had known how to realize that he had moon magic she could have realized what her feelings really stemmed from. Do I make sense?" He asked, but continued before Syaoran could nod, "Your intuition and your magical talents that come as naturally as breathing will still persevere, and not be lost as you focus on your skills, especially not with a mind as stubborn and disapproving towards change as yours. It will be like my aura. My magical aura naturally has a trait to it that is conducive towards people who tell the truth. It causes the people around me to want to confide in me, as I explained yesterday. Because it's a natural thing that doesn't really act as a spell, I find it nearly impossible to turn off completely and distracting to even dampen." Eriol shrugged and then smiled cheekily. "See you tomorrow, dear pupil. I hear your second week of school is starting up. Be sure and consider how you'll ask Sakura to the homecoming dance before some other guy does it while rotating from class to class." He backed out the open door and waved as Syaoran flipped his hand as Eriol began moving, which caused the door to swing shut firmly and abruptly just as Eriol started his goodbye wave.

"Damn." Eriol's excellent hearing heard Syaoran mutter through the door. "…missed."

………..

The remainder of the day passed uneventfully. Nakuru and Suppi caught up with Eriol eventually and they slowly made their way around Tomoeda, refamiliarizing themselves with everything before stopping off in a library for a few hours. Suppi and Eriol quickly determined that it would not meet their needs and began hatching a plan to obtain, for themselves, using honest or dishonest means, something close to the library Eriol had in Britain, or at least something like the one in his former Tomoeda residence. Nakuru pointed out that they could simply have most of his library in England shipped over, but the idea was nixed, mainly because it was a boring solution, but also because Eriol had not yet determined exactly where the library was going to be put.

So, after returning to Daidouji mansion and having accomplished nothing all day, save for a brief rendezvous with Sakura and Kero at the Kinomoto residence just after Sakura's daily lunch with Syaoran, Eriol decided to search out Tomoyo and inquire as to the whereabouts of a piano. He retrieved his music from his room and wandered around until he found himself in the backyard. The yard, while impressive, was not the main focus of his attention. There was a separate building which the path through the carefully manicured lawn led to. From the smaller cottage-like building Eriol could hear strains of music. He swiftly made his way over to the cottage and- since cream cutains were pulled over each window, opened the door.

Japanese rock music blared out at him. A powerful alto voice crashed over Eriol, followed by an eerie soprano descant, emphasized by a strong and unique bass line. The main theme of the song sounded like it was being traded back and forth, echoing itself, between the main guitar and the loud alto voice. There was also a keyboard playing, aiding the soprano voice in it's task of giving the music flavor, harmony, and depth.

Tomoyo was nodding her head to the music and, from what Eriol could see when she tossed it side to side, mouthing the words. She was fiddling on a computer hooked up to some of the camera equipment from yesterday. Her back was to him, as the computer was placed on the opposite wall. The music ensured that she hadn't heard him enter.

The room itself was the craziest and most amazing part. For one thing, it was wired with speakers all over it, in every corner near the ceiling, so that it achieved the surround-sound affect. The entire cottage was one room, as far as Eriol could tell, excluding two doorways, one of which led to what seemed to be a bathroom and the other a large walk-in closet. Massive, actually. The door to the closet was wide open and the lights had been left on. The entire left half of the cottage was filled with sewing machines, a table or two, comfy chairs, busts of all different sizes, scraps of cloth, and bolts of cloth hanging on the walls. Scissors, open sewing kits, open drawers of beads, you name it Tomoyo had it. The right side of the room was obviously for photography and filming, filled with equipment and miles of shelving packed with videos, portfolios, and disks. On the far wall, to the right of both doorways, was the computer and, past that, a large flat-screen television with a single large and cushy-looking navy couch.

The ambience of the room was distinctly Tomoyo, specifically her work self. Eriol felt as though he had stepped inside her and gone to where her mind went when she was creating crazy clothes or buckling down to meet a deadline. It was organized, but messy and creative. While the room itself had things strewn around it, equipment that Tomoyo probably used often left out on tables, and scraps of the half-finished designs draped over busts lying scattered across the floor, it was apparent that everything had a place and could be easily accessed and just as easily put away. The room was obviously not built for lots of people to come sit in. Aside from the couch, there were a few chairs here and there, most the rolling kind. There was a large wooden worktable near the busts with sewing equipment on it, and another by the wall the front door was placed in. It was right under one of the cream-draped windows, and had a comfy stool by it and a sewing machine on it with an incomplete denim thing still laying there. The navy piece of furniture was the only one that more than one person could occupy comfortably.

Eriol walked towards Tomoyo, resisting the urge to lie down on the carpeted floor and let the awesome music wash over him. He waited behind her until he could startle her without disturbing her work. She paused as the song changed and raised her palms to her temples… He leaned forward, bracing one hand on the back of her chair.

"So, are you working on the pictures for your magazine spread, still?" he inquired, his head right next to her face as he gazed over her shoulder at the computer. He smiled amiably directly into her face when she gasped and leaned away, shocked.

"Oh God!" She said, nearly drowned out by the music as the next selection roared to life. Clicking furiously with the mouse, she soon lowered the volume dramatically. And returned to the most off-putting thing in the room, "Eriol you scared me. I had forgotten anyone was… how long have you been here? Did the maids show you where the workroom was? Usually they'd have taken you all the way to the room and gotten my attention…" Eriol shrugged after straightening and she dismissed the question in favor for staring up at him and smiling like a good hostess.

"Do you need something from me?"

"Actually, yes." He began, "I was looking for your music room. Or the closest one, if you have several." Tomoyo turned off the music altogether.

"Oh." She answered, and he held up his Piano music. Her extraordinary blue-amethyst eyes blinked widely.

"Yes, oh." He replied lightly with humor, "I could also take a look at your piece, the one I'll be accompanying you on."

"Great!" she said enthusiastically, lighting up at the thought of her song. "Could you do me a favor and tell me if you think it's too easy? I was also looking at a Handel from the Messiah, but all of those are so overdone. It's from near the end, so most people actually don't know it and I really love it. But if it's too cliche… and I'm sure it would be tricky to accompany." She explained, turning back to her screen.

"Absolutely. You could give me both if you'd like and I could skim over the other one after looking at your Dvorak. The Handel sounds intruiging." He answered.

"Wonderful." She said as she clicked out of programs. "And yes, I was working on the photos. I wasn't sure which to choose at first, it was really difficult. Now I'm just experimenting with the ones I'm not using, altering the pictures to check out the outfits in different colors, or seeing how weird I can make them to get some inspiration for later or for different styles of photography when I'm shooting models and clothes. I was also designing some new things today. I had a sudden burst of inspiration, like a supernova." She said as she stood. "Sorry about this place. The workroom's a total mess over in that area, the fashion one to our left there. I left all of the sketches scattered on the floor and main table when I dragged myself away from the new stuff." She finished sheepishly as she led him towards the bathroom.

"What was the music?" Eriol asked curiously. Tomoyo paused, in the middle of opening the bathroom door completely. She looked at him, faintly surprised, and then smiled with a bit of a laugh.

"Oh that's right! You've been in England. It's Clover. The band Ora and Sue are in. I thought you knew of them?" she said as they moved through the bathroom, which, he could now see, had a door at the opposite end which probably led to another room.

"Well the hype was huge when I left. They were about to release their first English single. Apparently Ora is bilingual and Sue is… what trilingual, I think? Chinese, Japanese, and English?" He said, and continued as Tomoyo nodded, "but I never got around the checking them out in Japanese and the single was released the day after I left."

"Oh dear. Well, I'll just take you to get some soon and until then you can borrow one of my CD's or, if you have an ipod, you can download mine." She said generously, ushering him into the room adjacent to the bathroom. All thoughts of thanks fled Eriol's mind as he took in the room beyond.

"Oh, wicked." he said softly, but enthusiastically, in English. The room had a high tilted roof. It was done all in hardwood and was devoid entirely of furniture, aside from a Grand Piano in excellent condition, a music stand, and piano bench in the far left corner of the room. A mirror covered the back wall of the room and, actually, the entire cottage. The ceiling sloped up away from the top of the mirror-wall, slanting higher in the direction of the doorway where Tomoyo and Eriol stood. The ceiling had four long sun-roofs which made the room feel as though it opened up into the sky. Eriol could see curtains which, presumably, could be drawn over the skylights. They were light and thin, cream and made of a fabric that didn't appear to suck up much sound. At the moment they hung straight down from hooks.

Tomoyo, noticing the direction of his stare, said, "Oh we have long hooked poles we use to draw those from their hanging positions over the skylights. The trick is to get the loops of cloth at the bottom and then pull it over the metal attachments at the other end of the ceiling windows, see? Otherwise, the room bakes on sunny days. You should be alright, since the sun's nearly gone now." There was a single, bright, and modern chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling that lit the entire room well.

Eriol's gaze drifted over to the right of the room next, expecting to see emptiness or maybe a bookshelf full of music. Piled high in overflowing heaps and stacks in each of the remaining two corners of the room was music, several miniature paper and book-towers per corner. Together all of the stacks in each corner were curved or gathered around an empty space, as though someone invisible sat at the center, sorting through them. He turned at looked at Tomoyo incredulously. The tops of her cheekbones began slowly to pink, and the color only spread as she began to explain them defensively, "Mother offered to get me shelves, but it's so much more fun to sit in the center of a pile of music and look through it all to determine what I want to sing. The few pieces I need access to, like the Dvorak and the other solo pieces I'm learning or brushing up on are all in the piano bench or my room. The real music library's inside, actually. This stuffs only the things I want to keep around… old music that is fun in one corner, new and tricky things that randomly caught my attention in the other. I grab more from the music library every so often and put a few back… There's a baby grand in there as well, if you'd prefer…" She trailed off, looking at him, and he began to recover from the idea that these maybe hundreds of pieces were only the ones she was temporarily interested in.

"No!" He objected quickly and firmly, seeing the guilty look still on her face. "This is the most perfect and uncomplicated practice space I've ever seen. It's marvelous, completely devoted to music and only music. I'm touched you offered its use to me." He said truthfully, because he could tell the room was _hers_, to help her focus and keep her music separated from all the creative things in the other room. He walked over to the fantastic piano and skimmed the keys with the pads of his fingers.

"My piece is already on the piano from earlier. Oh and the other one is in the piano bench, on top. It's called "If God be for Us". That version was adapted from the original to sort of support a piano accompaniment, but I don't know how well it's been altered, because the voice part is identical to the one in the Messiah. I don't play piano at all or I'd have a better idea for you. I really just know enough to get by learning my part in a new piece. So. Go ahead and play to your heart's content." She finished graciously, stepping out of the room. He noticed, however, that she had left both the bathroom doors open and kept her music off.

He hummed to himself thoughtfully. 'It helps if I'm extremely forward and really put myself out there, invade her space more than I would need to with someone as open as Sakura. I see what the poor girl meant… it's not that she's not polite or amiable or gracious, or even kind. She just isn't connecting all the way… very reserved. Maybe she gets emotional towards Sakura, I suppose, but you can't have only one friend… Being overly affectionate seems to work for me, shocking her out of her politeness... This is fun.' He smiled wickedly, "I wonder when she'll catch on?"

'Soon, I'm sure.' Eriol smiled and continued humming as he retrieved the other piece and began working his way through her two options.

……

The maid Tomoyo called Nao brought them both a large tray of food about two hours later. They picked through the meal, discussing first Tomoyo's musical selections. Eriol had quickly decided that the second piece was gorgeous, not one of the over-used solo's in the Messiah, and much more flashy and therefore perfect for the audition. Tomoyo had agreed easily, although she mentioned it was a little flashier than what she usually did for these kinds of things. She admitted that the end made her nervous because she had written in an extra a capella run after a pause in the music and she liked it, but it could easily be frowned upon as taking too much license with the music. Nevertheless they passed on to other topics pretty soon after, discussing Eriol's piece and then their favorite composers. After Shina had come in to retrieve the dishes, Tomoyo looked at Eriol.

"I really should get back to the computer." She said apologetically, returning to her swivel chair, but still facing the boy, who was now standing. "Technically I've done all that I absolutely had to finish today, but with school this week I just want to get ahead."

"I understand." He answered, smiling reassuringly and disarmingly. He motioned generously to her waiting screen and noted that her desktop was Sakura, Syaoran, Kero, and Herself posing around the Penguin slide. "Work is work. Especially when it's something you're passionate about."

She turned away from him, satisfied with his answer and confident that he was on his way back to the house. Eriol paced by her, and headed instead for the navy couch. Rather than going around to the front he relined backwards over the top and settled fluidly into a relaxed position, arms and legs sprawled, t-shirt floated to a little above his pants line and twisted a bit. Tomoyo's hand paused on her mouse and her head turned curiously. There was a pause and then…

"Eriol-kun?" Her voice sounded odd and small in the sudden dead silence encompassing the room. His eyes were closed, but the tone of her voice gave him the impression that she found it almost painful to have to disturb him.

"Mm…" he responded comfortably, upbeat but sounding relaxed, "Am I disturbing you? I was only waiting for the music to come on again. I really don't listen to music for fun much, or haven't lately, and so I don't really have any to go back to my room and turn on, you see." He breathed and exhaled calmly, waiting for her answer, but not moving an inch from his position on the cushions.

"Ah, hai, I see. Ok, then. I'm just going to put my itunes music library on shuffle." He heard a mellow song start up as she continued working. It was 'Hey There, Delilah'.

"Oh, older but still good. I like how they rereleased this one." He commented softly, readjusting his arms in order to pillow his head upon them. He began to sing along quietly. "Oh, it's what you do to me, oh it's what you do to me…" and then trailed off quickly so as not to be a large disturbance.

"I didn't know you could sing." Tomoyo said, still half absorbed in her computer.

"Not much. Not like you, certainly. I know about music, I can carry a tune, and my voice doesn't sound poor, that's all it is." He said modestly. He continued to relax as the next few songs passed and the two sat in quiet. A louder song came on, the theme to some show on TV and he opened his eyes. Tomoyo's attention was fixed on on the computer, deep in concentration. His eyes wandered over her face for a few minutes as he considered her. Seeing her lips moving and head and knee bobbing, he realized that the song had just changed to Amy Winehouse's 'Go to (Rehab)'. He sat up, interested and driven by the manipulative impulse in him that knew when he could push people and when he couldn't.

"Sing it?" he said inquiringly, tapping his fingers on the edge of the couch and looking at her encouragingly. She smiled, startled from her focus, and complied agreeably. She sang a harmony to the chorus that rose above the melody, stopping after a few measures. "Hah, I knew it! You have a great jazz voice. One of these days we'll have to drag each other to an open mic night." He said, a little smugly, but kindly, lounging comfortably once again.

"A what?" she said, looking surprised, humble, and slightly embarrassed.

"Don't you have them here? In England, a pub or something will have a night when anyone can go up and perform. Oh, well maybe we'll just do Karaoke or something and embarrass Syaoran, maybe even let Nakuru and Kero get wasted on sugar and alcohol and wail for a little bit." He said. Her look of confusion changed to a fond one, and he could tell she was imagining the scene, the chaos, the massive catastrophe of Kero, Suppi, and Nakuru all in the same place with alcohol. As they sat there, Tomoyo off in space and eyes beginning to sparkle, the song changed again to a girly rock song. "Oooh!" She said eagerly upon hearing it.

"What's this now?" he said, because this song too was in English.

"Catch Your Wave". She answered in English, "by The Click Five." Head bobbing, she went back to work. The song played once and then Tomoyo, because it was obviously a favorite, started it over again. Eriol, having caught most of the words and simple melody the first time, began mock-singing the chorus on it's first time around. He rose from his den of comfort and, as Tomoyo again paused in her work, this time leaving it as though she had almost expected to be interrupted again, he took her hands. She was pulled lightly from her seat and he began to dance around the room, throwing his British-ResurrectedSorcerer-Mature beyond my age façade out the window. Tomoyo cracked up at the sight of him doing motions to go along with the words. She soon joined in and was punching the air and adapting his moves, adding flourishes and extra symbols. Near the end she began turning and spinning furiously, arms folded above her head and, once she stopped, dancing a funny little jig with her shoulders and hands mainly, yelling the many words Eriol was leaving out of his loud singing, due to the fact that he didn't yet know the song. He stopped and leaned against a piece of furniture, watching her spin and spin uncontrollably once again as the song ended.

He smiled, yawned, and stretched as she breathed deep, calming breaths. "Well that felt crazy and fun." English, again. Dammit why did he always forget? It really wasn't that hard to remember to use the right language. Switching back to Japanese, "Since you were done with today's work ages ago, I suggest we go back to the Main house. Who knows how stressful tomorrow will be, what with school continuing." His hand went out invitingly. Tomoyo, hair disheveled but the childish glee that had played over her face recently now missing from the picture, took it. She had a secretive smile on her face that went straight from her mouth into the depths of her eyes as though she was savoring a special experience that she knew wasn't going to be taken away. Eriol shifted his grip to her arm and led her to the door, gallantly holding it and waving her through.

…..

That night Eriol was thinking of Tomoyo as he fell asleep. A British rock song he had heard during his last night in England was stuck in his head. "Be My… Be My… Be my little Rock and Roll Queee-eeen." Was running through his head, and he kept picturing Tomoyo spinning and punching the air and laughing. Also the way her shirt had twisted and pulled while she turned and danced, jumped and tossed her hair…

….

Tomoyo had been feeling completely without cares or worries since going insane with Eriol. She couldn't believe he had done that! Proper, British, scholarly and mature Eriol! The person who, supposedly, had frozen his body at a young age so that he wouldn't be too old when Sakura came along, but hadn't been able to stop his mind from maturing. 'Incidentally, how old was he really supposed to be, and why does he not look the age he actually would be if he hadn't paused the natural growth of his body?' Her thoughts were side-tracked momentarily before this question was dismissed in light of her incredulity towards her moment of no control.

Hell she hadn't even believed that thoughts of how dumb she would look didn't stop her wild… celebration, should she call it? Impromptu dance party? Much more fitting title.

Tomoyo fell asleep still feeling as though she glowed, as though she was laying light as a feather on her pillow. She had an images stuck in her head, ones of the jeans and tops she had been designing for him… images of Eriol, laying on the couch, his shirt riding up his chest…

"I wonder how he stays in such good physical condition?"

………..

Tomoyo opened her eyes to find herself next to Eriol. They sat, looking at each other. Eriol lay on his left side, Tomoyo lying with him under sheets on her right side. She felt them both breathing evenly, in unison, and tugged her pillow closer. She, slowly and evenly, slid out a hand, the one not wrapped in her pillow, and held it in the air between their faces. He was still gazing at her, directly in the eyes, dark blue stuck on amethyst-grey. He brought up his own hand and held it against her palm, not entwining their fingers.

She closed her hand and he folded his fingers around it before she could pull it back, still looking at her square in the eyes. Hers flicked back and forth between his face and their hands. Her eyes wandered over him for the first time. The white and gold sheets came almost to his shoulders, but she could tell he was sleeping without a shirt. For some reason, she still felt calm, no blushing. His eyes brushed over her, a light glance, warm and appreciative. She smiled and her eyes blinked tiredly as her sense of being protected and cared for magnified. She closed her eyes, feeling safe and comfortable enough to allow sleep to successfully tug her away, her fisted hand still surrounded by Eriol's.

…….

When she woke up she was sprawled comfortably across her bed. A soft and deep voice was echoing 'You'll stay safe' in her mind, as though she was just remembering someone saying those words to her. She shook it off as part of a dream she couldn't remember.

"Odd." She murmured to herself as she stretched comfortably in the sunlight, "I always wake up curled in a tight ball. Everything feels so loose this morning." She sighed happily and slid out of bed. Her dream of Eriol and herself slowly came back to her, unfolding in her mind as she pulled up the sheets and chose an outfit for the day. It had felt simple and comfortingly private.

"What a nice dream." She said happily. "So pleasant." She entered the bathroom for her shower. "I feel very Sakura-like… very bright, cheery, and fluffy, but maybe not quite as genki as her."

….

Eriol stirred in his room and drifted out of sleep. He smiled, with an edge. "Oh my. I wonder… are we _that_ compatible?" He made a face of disbelief and added, "Wouldn't that make things easier." He sighed and got a wistful look on his face as he climbed out of his bed, shaking out his limbs. His body felt very well-rested. He himself felt surprisingly ready to get on with his day and his usual business of messing with as many people's minds as possible without getting blamed for the mayhem his victims would surely cause. A smile crept across his face and his eyes glinted expectantly.


	6. A Surprise for Everyone

**Disclaimer: not mine or my scarce amount of fans would've claimed the right to slaughter me for my slow updating.**

**Ok, so this one took me a while because I was trying to give everyone an idea of what the other characters are like now- Rika, Chiharu, Naoko, Takashi, etc. Also I have the second half of this scene written already… and it was frustrating to finish this because I have this awesome gala scene written that's I'm still a few chapters away from! I'm bringing back Clamp Academy characters and Meilin soon!! Just something for you diehard Clamp fans to be happy about- Clover will appear soon after.**

**Key: 'Nani' means what**

**Demo means 'but' (I think)**

**Daijobu means 'are you okay?'**

**Minna is 'everyone'**

**And, heads up, I still need a beta, so don't kick my ass around about the grammar or problems with consistency (although feel free to point them out in your reviews, because I will fix them)**

**Now, on with the real reason you're here:**

**Chapter 6: A Surprise for Everyone**

Tomoyo drifted into the kitchen, yawning, but dressed flawlessly in her school uniform, hair impeccable and face devoid of all but foundation and light lavender eyeshadow.

"I made Pancakes, Daidouji-san" said Ryoki, "Since it's the beginning of yet another week of balancing work and school! Our multitalented young mistress is so overworked these days." Tomoyo yawned and smiled.

"Arigatou, Ryo-chan" she said tiredly. Her peaceful feeling was still with her, but she began to feel disappointed about going to school. Who would entertain poor Eriol, Nakuru, and Suppi. She hadn't even had time to see Suppi-chan at all! All in all, despite the interesting appeal of her more challenging and interesting classes, she was not very enthused. To her surprise, as she lifted her fork to eat her strawberry pancakes, Eriol drifted in the door, Suppi perched limply, as a 'stuffed animal' on his shoulder.

"Why Tomoyo-hime!" he exclaimed falsely, "What an unexpected surprise! Here you are in your school uniform and here I am in my... oh dear. I suppose this is a school uniform as well...". Tomoyo's mouth dropped open for a single second before she turned the slack jaw into a surprised smile.

"Nani! Demo, you finished High School, you've already been accepted into dozens of prestigious Universities, you said your plans for this year were solid, unchangeable!" She spluttered, speaking a bit too loud. She heard amused noises coming from her maid.

Hiirigizawa bowed gracefully, presenting her with Suppi as a peace offering. Spinel Sun, now that he was facing away from the amused Ryoki, blinked at her cutely, (cute for him, anyway). "I'm terribly sorry, madam, but you did tell me that you were taking it upon yourself to guess what I've been keeping back from you. I would have thought you'd expected me to attend the school my pupils and love-struck dear naive and emotionally handicapped friends are spending two more years at." Still gazing, (a true lady never stares) in shock at the sight of him in her school's uniform, Tomoyo took the proffered Suppi, still masquerading as a stuffed animal, from him as he continued, straightening.

"Of course, I'll be in only several select advanced classes and I'm only here on a free scholarship because I don't turn eighteen until after this school year begins... but why feel guilty about the minor details? I get a year of free classes taught by excellent teachers, on material I've already studied in high school or at some point in my rather curious life. That will leave me ever so much time to entertain all of my dear, once-distant, friends." He smiled disarmingly, seating himself and snapping his napkin into his lap with a flourish. "Actually, the math will most likely be rather challenging, and the advanced Japanese should improve my written skill with the language, which I haven't used much aside from frequent letter-writing."

Tomoyo gave up trying to convey how backwards his plans were in favor of diving in to her pancakes, leaving the thinking for after her morning expresso.

"That's a rather… untraditional breakfast, Tomoyo-hime." Eriol said musingly, after accepting his own plate from the maid. "More American than British, even." Tomoyo smiled fondly at her plate as she cut her pancakes into small pieces.

"Well I spent a few weeks abroad in America. Remember I sent only one letter this summer? Well, I was in America, New York City, actually. I had an internship with a designer, and I was staying with a lawyer friend of my mother's. It gave me a dear appreciation of cappucino's. Somehow I never tried one while in England, I always stuck more to tea. Now I eat only British and American breakfasts." Tomoyo told her story in-between bites.

Eriol listened and then stayed quiet as they finished their meal, thinking as Tomoyo thoroughly enjoyed her food. She ate like a bird, despite the delicious meal, he noted. She ate about half of each pancake, washing them down with strawberries and powdered sugar, topping every other bite off with some cappuccino. She rose before he finished, giving him a little wave as she left to gather her things, carrying Suppi.

……..

Tomoyo took Suppi straight to her smaller library, the one full of books she was currently interested in reading.

"Alright, the maids only disturb this one while I'm in it working on homework or reading, so I can tell them what not to move. You should be alright in here. I'll leave the window unlocked so you can leave if you'd like." She said graciously, setting him down on a comfortable antique chair.

"This is very thoughtful." Suppi responded, pleased by the fact that she had anticipated his boredom during her and Eriol's absence.

"I promise we'll have a chat when I return home. I'd really like to ask you some questions about a few books I've ordered recently, but have yet to read. And, furthermore, I promise not to tell Nakuru where I'm leaving you. Enjoy, Suppi-kun! We'll see you this afternoon!" She waved goodbye and glided quickly from the room, making for the door, by which she had laid her school things.

Suppi flew around the room, levitating whatever caught his attention. Finally he paused near a shelf of books. Most were old, and there was no sign that they had been shelved recently, or that they hadn't been used. Still, Spinel Sun had a hunch that they were the ones she had meant to speak with him about.

"Finally, someone notices that I'm the discreet one in the family." He muttered to himself, intrigued and pleased.

……..

Eriol met Tomoyo at the door and they walked out together. If the British boy was surprised at how early she left for school, he showed no sign of it. They got into a car, which was driven by a strict-looking middle-aged woman in sunglasses and a power-suit. Glass separated the driver and the front-seat passenger, a woman identical to the driver in all but her haircut, from the passengers in the back. Eriol noticed that a motorcycle followed them out of the gates at a reasonable distance, driven by a woman whose long braid was whipping around behind her helmeted head. Tomoyo broke their silence first.

"So, how are you **not** wasting this year? After knowing how much you value these years, which have finally arrived, what with the fact that you're actually growing and all, I don't understand why you would bother practically repeating the year. I know you're fond of Tomoeda, Sakura, and that you love teasing poor Li, but still… Even counting the substantial amount of money the Li family is paying you to tutor Li and the fact that you practically get to transform my best friend into the best candidate for Li's future wife." She cut her musings off, interrupting herself. "Well now, that may actually be worth it. But honestly, I really do have that covered. I've been preparing for this for years, and I've done research and called Meilin millions of times with questions... Seriously, now. I wonder about you." Eriol simply sat, with an amused look on his face, as she worked it all out, examining him shrewdly. A worried expression darkened her face.

"Oh, dear. Please tell me it's not as serious as the last time you came? Last time you dropped everything it was in order to ensure Sakura's future, and the future of Clow's legacy. Not to mention it prepared her for the nothing card. Sakura's not in some kind of danger is she? Syaoran? Li told me you were adamant about Sakura being included in the training." She asked softly, in a slightly desperate voice, quiet but intense.

Eriol calmed her. "It's not necessarily because they are in danger. Although I suppose I feel as though it's my duty to be here, it's more because of my opinions then those of Clow. I also don't trust anyone else to know enough to make Syaoran and Sakura two of the best magic-users since Clow Reed's time. I have a lot of knowledge in me, Tomoyo. And a lot of it is about magic that I wasn't born with an ability to use this time around. Between the two of them, our friends are capable of putting to use all the wisdom that I am now incapable of wielding." He told her seriously. Tomoyo looked at him, considering his words and attitude carefully.

"The way you refer to your past life is so very odd." She said softly. Before he could become offended, she changed topics. "So. I assume my Sakura-chan will require a fresh wardrobe for all of the magical training she'll be going through?" Tomoyo inquired eagerly, eyes beginning to gleam. Eriol watched, entranced, as her eyes changed slowly from amethyst-grey to a deeper color, almost violet. Her cheeks gained a slight flush that offset her paler skin. It was as if she was lit from the inside, a softly painted porcelain nightlight decorated in purples, greys, and pinks. She was beautiful. But her excitement did not light her up with the passionate strength he had observed when they were younger. There was a fatigued edge to her, even now.

"Of course." He replied to her question about the clothes. "I trust that you're all over it." She held up a small victory sign in a silly imitation of the girls in anime shows and on TV. Her worried expression came over her again as the car rounded a corner and slowed before the gates of the high school.

"Demo… This must be more serious than you're letting on." Her voice sounded soft, but sharp as her mind continued working, "For sure. You must have more than one reason for being here, for one, and they must all be equally pressing, and time-sensitive. This couldn't have possibly been a convenient time for you to drop everything, your entire life in London. Eriol-kun…" She gave up, being unable to find a question that she thought he might answer. His eyes acknowledged her assessment, although he kept his expression closed.

"Cheer up." He said, climbing out of the car first and holding the door for her. "I had several compelling reasons for my presence here. And, I assure you," He closed the door behind her and turned back to her before continuing, "Not all of them were unhappy ones." He began walking before she did. "At least this year will be interesting, ne? Now smile and tell me, why do you arrive at school an hour before it begins?" Reassured, if not entirely satisfied, she matched his pace.

"Well, even at this rich school having three bodyguards escort you to and from school is rather conspicuous. That's all really. Plus, I enjoy being one of the few here at this early hour. The kind of people who arrive early aren't the kind to point out my bodyguards to the students who would care." She answered simply. "Aren't you glad, though, Eriol-kun? Now we can get you to the Principal before I show you around the school. We can also plan your grand entrance and speculate about how pissed off Syaoran will be at having to actually see you every day. Ooh, and you're going to absolutely make Takashi-kun's year! And, if I recall correctly, you play soccer. You should see the coach at lunch! I can't wait! Such wonderful chaos it'll be! Oh hohohoho" She finished her trademark laugh, eyes beaming again, and skipped a little as they ascended the stairs and entered their school. Eriol smiled evilly, following her as they both began planning the morning in their heads.

………..

"Ah, I'm so confused. I can't tell if it was Fate or Eriol that caused the school's computer to put minna-san together in the same homeroom. I knew it wasn't natural."

Tomoyo shook her head, tsk-ing both Eriol and Fate for screwing with school property.

"Let's see now." She continued examining Eriol's schedule, "Math with Syaoran and Yamazaki, not surprising. I don't doubt you'll at least be entertained. They're in there with two genius's in the year above us. The teacher practically made up the class for the four of them because they've already mastered all of the normal advanced mathematics material. Let's see, Japanese with Naoko and myself, that means you'll be studying ancient and modern poetry and literature with us, as well as writing analytical essays and poetry of our own. Hmm, Japanese Business and Law with Yamazaki, Li, Chiharu, and myself. That one has a wicked work load. I'll be cheering you on all week while you work frantically to catch up. Astronomy with Sakura, Naoko, Rika, and myself. And also Advanced Physics with Yamazaki and myself. Too bad. Li, Sakura, and Naoko are all in Advanced Biology and Rika and Chiharu are in Advanced Chemistry this year. We're all split up." She paused, silently tallying up his classes.

"Wait a second… Five classes out of our usual eight and you call this an easy year? They're all extremely difficult advanced classes, aside from Astronomy, and two of them you can't have studied much of! Hiirigizawa, I can't believe you called this 'taking the year off'. What are you trying to prep yourself for, Clamp Academy University?"

She sighed and leaned back against the railing surrounding the roof of her school. His grand entrance was about twenty minutes away, and so they were hiding out in a far corner of the roof, watching the people below pulling up, parking, or walking into school. It was imperative that he not leave the roof before Li and Sakura arrived.

"What can I say, I'm a genius?" Eriol responded modestly, smiling in a self-deprecating fashion. He turned from the sight beneath them. "There's an awful lot of fancy cars and limousines dropping rich kids off down there." He said meaningfully.

"Yes, well, there's only two or three who have bodyguards. The student body only notices one girl's and she plays up her money, so it's simply a part of her expensive and extremely important image and lifestyle. The other two have very discreet shadows." Tomoyo said.

"Yes, I noticed those." Eriol answered. "Was that bad-mouthing I heard coming from your saintly mouth, Tomoyo-hime?" He teased to pass the time. She turned to him without even a polite smile.

"She's not exactly a kind person. Even saints feel that retribution and repenting is a necessary step for the evil people in the world, Mr. Reincarnated Genius." She responded, serious, then with humor, but still maintaining a small dose of dreariness.

"So here's a question for you." She began suddenly, "You told us that your body would magically restore itself to the age you were, I quote, 'meant to have in this life' once you were finished with Sakura and you returned to England. That would've made you probably even older than Ms. Mizuki." Her sudden direct approach caught him off-guard and his eyes narrowed slightly in remembrance. "Didn't you halt your body's aging in order to be Sakura's age during her Sakura Card crisis?" His eyes, always a dark blue, began to glitter with an edge she hadn't seen yet since he arrived. It was intriguing to her, a reminder that he was not always light and amusing.

"Yes, the spell was to wear off safely over the course of the year after I returned to the home I cast it in." He answered concisely, in a normal tone. She could see the muscles in his neck tensing, however. She waited, the silence and her empathic lavender eyes pressuring him subtly to continue.

"No one could tell me for certain, not if even I, the caster, or Suppi, a veritable bank of magical theory and an expert who was present when I performed the spell, couldn't figure it out. The spell was flawless, I know this. Or else something would have gone wrong in the first half, when I first halted my body's aging. One of the body's more tender organs would have begun to fail, become diseased or shut itself down." He looked beyond her now, face blank, "There is no reason. Fate maybe wants me to be this age. There are unseen forces that manipulate magic according to their will. Not many that I can't sense, but they are there. Perhaps… I know that Fate, or whatever Power rules the worlds, needed to supply Sakura with someone who's magical knowledge and power were greater than her own. On the other hand, that someone had to be the reincarnation of Clow. Also, halting my aging process is relatively simple and was the easiest way to achieve what I needed. To be close to the Card Mistress, ensure that the she was the right one, and then to set her and her magic on the right path and cement her relationship to the Cards and the Gaurdians. Not to mention finally free Yue from his own doubts. It wasn't the spell. Fate has already interfered so much…"

"Yes, it sounds likely. Also difficult to accept. You can't think of a motive, and even unseen powers like Fate and Destiny have reasons." Tomoyo inserted thoughtfully. He looked at her, coming back to himself, but not in the least embarrassed about his ramblings. Tomoyo Daidouji was, if nothing else, a thinker, used to planning and expecting things to not go wrong, and if they did, to find the problem. She was also used to gathering knowledge about magic from her friends and immediately applying that knowledge to help them solve their problems. She was a fresh opinion, and he knew she wouldn't mention the story again unless she had discovered some element he had missed in the difficult equation that was his life. "Well, you're still alive and sane." She added firmly, "And finally getting to be past the point of 'young'. So the worst has, hopefully, passed. It's time that I got downstairs." She patted him comfortingly but brusquely on the hand twice before rising and leaving. Almost as if to convey that, while she felt pain for his unfortunate circumstance, there was no need for him to dwell on it when he had such a chaotic morning approaching.

"I'll be waiting for something interesting, Hiirigizawa-kun." She called as she exited through the door which led downstairs.

"Well, then." He released his confusion and tangled thoughts, exchanging them for excitement, seeing Syaoran and Sakura approach the door of the school slowly. "This will be, at the very _least_, interesting."

…….

Tomoyo entered the room to see Mr. Terada at his desk and Rika seated, perusing a magazine full of articles on psychology and music therapy. Naoko and Chiharu were chatting in the back while Takashi made notes in the margins of a book. Tomoyo took her seat, which was between Rika and Sakura, who, had she been there, would have been next to the window. They were sitting in the second row, and the first row was empty, as it usually was during homeroom.

"You're here so much later than usual, although I still didn't see you pull in. I'm curious to discover what kept you. The music room was empty when I passed it." Rika said idly, without looking up from her magazine. Her tone was soft, not pressuring Tomoyo for an answer, merely informing the girl of Rika's curiousity and awareness of Tomoyo's deviance from her normal schedule. Tomoyo felt warm, somehow, at the thought that someone had noticed. Rika always noticed. She was that kind of person, almost like a mother or older sister to her friends. Rika's hair caught the sunlight as she turned a page.

Her auburn hair traveled halfway down her back, thick and straight until it hit the last two inches, in which the ends curved every which way, adding a nice impression. Her bangs framed her face, accenting her warm brown eyes. She was actually turning out to be fairly tall, for a Japanese girl, although nowhere near Sakura's height. She was also startlingly strong, stronger even then Chiharu, although you would never know it.

Rika and Tomoyo were always the first two in the classroom for homeroom with Terada-Sensei. They had a mutual understanding about their unspoken reasons for arriving early. Both knew that they saw more of what went on in their friends' lives than they let on, especially in the lives of each other. Despite the fact that they rarely spoke, Tomoyo knew that Rika would support her through anything. She was the one person Tomoyo could trust aside from Li to take care of Sakura as well. Rika knew how to comfort someone without asking questions. Before Tomoyo had left for America she had asked Rika to keep an eye on Sakura for her. The weeks before Syaoran had arrived had been Sakura's most depressing weeks ever. Li hadn't talked to Sakura for months before his arrival, busy finishing up his education and training in order to convince the Elders to allow him to live in Japan. Sakura had been convinced that he had forgotten her, although she wouldn't allow Tomoyo to stay home from her trip to America.

Tomoyo was jolted out of her reverie by the arrival of Sakura and Li, just on time. Li looked around ruefully. Takashi, seeing them, said, "Man, are you kidding? Class is starting already? I only have one page left!" Sakura blushed, realizing that he used her chronic just-barely-on-time or lateness to tell time.

Li shrugged as he passed Chiharu, who was now in her seat and eyeing them with a smile, "What?" he muttered, providing an unnecessary explanation for the 'not a couple's ' usual daily entrance. "You know she'd never get here anywhere close to on time unless I stopped on my way to drag her along." Naoko, tapping a pencil on her desk, smiled wickedly.

"Who wouldn't get up for that?" She said, watching Li's cheeks flush and Sakura's face fill up redder than before. Tomoyo beamed back at Naoko for the comment before turning to see her two favorite shy little lovebirds take their seats as Terada-sensei shushed the snickers coming from Chiharu and Yamazaki.

"Ohmigosh Minna-san, guess what!" Sakura nearly yelled, suddenly remembering that they didn't know about Eriol. Tomoyo smiled, thinking that he must be approaching the door right about now, slyly guessing the reason for Sakura's sudden memory jolt of his arrival this weekend.

"Alright now, settle down." Terada began, amused but firm. "We've got to start now. Kinomoto-san can continue this during break. I've had word that we have an exciting event occurring today. This may ring some bells for a few of you, especially considering the uncanny timing and spooky similarities to elementary school." Terada-sensei eyed Li, whose face suddenly drained of color and become a sickly yellow shade. Sakura was digging through her bag for a pencil in the seat before Li's, oblivious to Terada-sensei's words. A knock sounded on the door, interrupting the sensei. Terada smiled as the bright students' blank looks began to slowly change in realization and disbelief as he crossed to the door and opened it.

"Ah, Good Morning Hiirigizawa-kun. Please, join us. We're honored that you decided to attend Tomoeda High despite already graduating from your prestigious British school. Considering the circumstances, I don't think writing your name on the board is necessary." Eriol stood at the front of the room, smirking, holding his bag. Tomoyo found herself only just now noticing the slightly rakish way in which he wore his uniform, as though he was only playing at being in school.

It was little things, the way his shirt was unbuttoned a little too far, his hair, disheveled from the wind on the roof. His hair was falling into his eyes, and mussed on top, shining deep blue-black in the light from the window. His eyes also set him apart, intense and dark blue, revealed by the contacts he wore. Mostly it was his ridiculous amount of maturity, intelligence, and obvious humor at the situation. For just a second he seemed to Tomoyo to be a strange mix of older than Terada, but living vicariously in a young, wild body. It was a nice thought for her poetic mind. Her hands itched as her mind simultaneously decided it wanted to begin a poem and draw some men's clothes.

A thump called her attention to Naoko, who had slipped right off the side of her chair, saying an abrupt, "Nani!" as she tipped over. Rika looked permanently startled, as though an idle daydream was being played out in real life and she didn't quite know what to make of it. Takashi, beyond her, got over his shock when Naoko fell and started pounding on his desk as he howled in laughter. Chiharu laughed brightly when his initial volume began to settle as he ran out of air.

"Whee, it's a party. Random foreign bishounen popping in, Takashi playing soccer again, the class doing a skit again for the autumn festival. This feels almost too exciting to be real life. I feel like an anime character!" Chiharu whapped Takashi on the head cheerfully to shut up his wheezing laughter (which had begun when he ran out of air) as Naoko's hands grasped her chair firmly. Naoko seated herself again. Sakura, who had heard from Tomoyo that there was no way Eriol would be going to school, had at one point been clapping cheerfully, but was now hovering (as much as she could while staying in her seat) worriedly over Li.

"Syaoran-kun!! Daijoubu? Are you sick?" The poor boy, not in the happiest of moods, had his chin on the desk. His eyes were dead to the world and he was thinking of one hundred different ways to torture Eriol Hiirigizawa for once again invading the school, although the kid was probably mentally the same age as Professor Kinomoto Fugitaka.

"My one sanctuary." He answered Sakura dully, "He dangled it in front of my eyes and then snatched it back. They're evil, the both of them. She totally knew." He mumbled the last two sentences, preoccupied with Eriol's imagined screams echoing in Li's mind.

Tomoyo turned back to Eriol, who beamed a smile at Sakura as Tomoyo watched and then winked playfully to Syaoran, who went red in both anger and embarrassment. Tomoyo gave a mental snort to match Chiharu's vocalized one and Mr. Terada began to speak to Eriol again. Tomoyo's mind strayed once more as Eriol turned to listen to the sensei, tilting his head and causing a few more locks of dark hair to fall forward against his pale skin. The image tugged her artistic mind away as she considered him.

It was so very different to see him in a setting in which she was used to comparing the boys and girls around her. Judging their futures, their popularity, their looks, their personality, their intelligence… His entire image seemed to be hitting her more strongly.

It was odd, how he managed to look devilishly handsome, but still appeared as comfortable and confident standing before them as though he was their class president. Tomoyo had a funny mental image of him stepping out of the pages of a magazine, his character a very GQ Bishounen class president, one of the lazy but brilliant ones from some manga.

The thought lit up her face with humor as Eriol passed on his way to the seat Terada-sensei had jokingly pointed out to him, the one behind Tomoyo, proportionally the same as the one he had in elementary school.

As he neared her she noticed that he had, since seeing the spot Mr. Terada had pointed out to him, been staring straight at her, and only her, with an unwavering gaze. Much like the first time he had transferred and stared unfailingly at Sakura, the first of many things which caused Syaoran to stay in Tomoeda for an extra year.

His eyes locked into place with hers as her own gaze became focused, no longer staring into space while she was off in her own little world. A tingle ran over her arms, and she thought she felt something intangible in the air shift.

The rest of the class watched, some remembering, some not. Yamazaki thought the scene was familiar, although Chiharu merely looked interested in what Eriol was doing now, not really remembering Eriol's first day in elementary school. Rika's attention was entirely focused on the two of them, although her eyes flicked once to Sakura. Naoko looked disappointed, assuming that Eriol was just now noticing Tomoyo's beauty and becoming captivated or something. Syaoran's interest was peaked, the glum frustration automatically dismissed as he put his mind to work. His brows furrowed slightly in thought as he added the scene to a list of things he had noticed about the two of them since Eriol's first day back.

Sakura's green eyes glowed from within like green stars as the deep, magical, and brilliant part of her mind watched Eriol advance on her friend. She felt something between them connecting, one strand at a time, and noticed how frail it was. She considered the scene with her heart, as some greater sense within her comforted her, sliding into her mind the thought of Eriol loving Tomoyo, accepting it as fact. Sakura's simple wisdom jumped to this conclusion immediately and then moved it to the back of her mind, as though it was something she had realized weeks ago. Old news. Her conscious personality snapped back as Eriol reached Tomoyo, and Sakura felt for a second as though something significant had occurred which she just missed.

Eriol's eyes slid away from Tomoyo's rather anticlimactically as he passed her, although he, unnoticed by the people on the other side of Tomoyo, tugged his fingers through the ends of her long hair affectionately as he passed. It was a brief thing, light, more like a flipping of the ends than a tug. Tomoyo, at first confused, soon dismissed the entire thing as a dramatic flair at the end of his appearing act, and also as one of the many things Eriol did that she couldn't fathom the reason behind.

…………

Li Syaoran was having a bad day. It had begun pretty well. He woke up, ate some rice, scrimmaged with some local soccer players living in his compound, then returned to his room to shower. He left to pick up Sakura, and then it turned around, slowly but surely. She had been awake, the first sign of an odd day, and ready to leave when he got there. Waiting in her front yard, actually.

"Since when did you get up on time?" He asked incredulously, mouth hanging open in shock. She looked excited, but apprehensive.

"It only happens if one of my 'dreams' occurs." Came her answer as they left the Kinomoto Residence side by side, walking slowly. "I never remember them! This one was the first in a long time. I had one at the beginning of the summer…" she blushed and sped up nervously. Li matched her pace.

"And?" He said invitingly, frowning.

"Oh. Well, I remembered that one, so it's disappointing that I don't remember this one, that's all. I think it was raining… and I was tired, like I just ran really far." She stopped walking for a second, face tilted in careful consideration while she tried hard to drudge up the illusive images. "And I was excited."

Li facefaulted. Not much to go on. "Excited? Like you just got to a party?" He inquired, trying to get something out of the vision anyway.

"Nope. It was like… like going after a Clow Card!" She said triumphantly. "I was psyched up. But it was right before something dangerous, I think." Her expression turned worried, and a little gloomy, not exactly a typical Sakura expression.

"Is that all you got from it?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah." She sighed heavily, pacing forward in a sulk.

"Well, I'm confident you'll have it again. You always do." He caught up to her, bumping her arm. "We'll figure it out, right?" He said reassuringly. Her sulk seemed to lift, although her expression didn't change. He could tell she was frustrated with herself, but didn't know what else he could say.

The pair reached school right on time. Suddenly she smiled again and her glow came back. Something inside Syaoran lit up in answer, his own mood lifting a little as she spoke. "Hey, at least I was up for school! These things used to keep me asleep all the time!"

A faint smile graced Li's face as they entered the building. From then on his attitude didn't improve however, that one lift in his mood being the last deviance from the destructive pattern of the day.

It seemed as though the closer they got to their homeroom class, the more uncomfortable he was feeling. He found himself almost frowning after he had entered the room, responded to the friendly banter aimed at him and Sakura, and seated himself. The door… the door and the hallway… felt odd. Terada-sensei began to speak.

….

**Haha, poor Li. Yes, ya'll will get more S and S next chapter. I'm just stuck on how to proceed. I want the magic lessons to start up before I go into their relationship more. Hopefully their relationship will be the focal point. **

**I want Tomoyo and Eriol's to either come together fast (not likely) or have no physical relationship for a long time although Eriol is possessive and tries to make it obvious later on that he likes her. Eventually (soon actually) she's gonna catch on and then it'll be fun, I promise.**

**Yay, I love this story!**


	7. Soccer and Shirtless Flirts

**Disclaimer: Not mine! **

**Yay, here we go! I love this story! Sorry if it's not moving fast enough for ya'll! Syaoran and Eriol are both starting to kick it up a notch in this one, though! I promise! And next Chapter is gonna have the first magic lesson (maybe).**

**Chapter 7- Soccer, Sexy Foreign Exchange Students, and Shirtless Flirts**

Still in Li's POV:

And then after Hiirigizawa's appearance came the rest of homeroom. With Hiirigizawa. Sakura and Tomoyo got up to pitch their idea for the Autumn festival skit to the rest of the homeroom. They were supposed to perform in conjunction with another homeroom, and each class was supposed to come up with one idea.

……… Back in Normal POV

"And so we thought it would be funny, since it uses real events in Tomoeda. Also, it would have the typical magical girl, Sakura, vs. an evil reincarnated Sorcerer. What do you think?" Tomoyo asked, finishing the explanation. Syaoran was actually a little impressed. It was bold of her to use the truth, but everyone else would probably love it, because it **was **a great story. Syaoran really disliked plays though… hated them, ever since his traumatic experience playing a princess.

Eriol looked over at him as the rest of the class expressed their enthusiasm for the idea. "Something wrong?"

"Plays." Li responded, looking pained. "With my luck, I'll have to play 'Ruby Moon'."

"Ah." Eriol smiled. "That's something for the rest of us to look forward to." Tomoyo and Sakura returned to their seats. Eriol touched Tomoyo casually on the shoulder and she turned.

"Clever, ladies. And now that I go here as well, an even larger crowd may come to see it, if only for the coincidence. Perhaps we could use Li's arrival in the play as well. Maybe he could be Sakura's magical rival, helping her against his will because the Sorcerer is more of a threat…?" He trailed off and the rest of the homeroom broke out in agreement once again. Takashi, on Eriol's other side, spoke up.

"This is exciting! Although, I'm a little upset about Sakura-chan being the opponent… I like playing the bad guy, but in this case she's the one up against our main character. I was hoping to audition for the most evil role in whatever you two came up with, but there's no way I could pull off a genki character like Sakura-chan!" He looked disappointed, and Chiharu merely sweatdropped at the fact that it was the character's personality scaring him off, and not the fact that the role was that of a magical girl.

"Takashi-kun, don't you see? Eriol-kun is the conflicted main character. He's the bad guy for most of the play! The audience knows he's not that bad at heart but at the same time Sakura- and maybe Li if we agree to tie that in- are hunting down the 'dark sorcerer'. What better role could you ask for? I think you should go for that one! We need a strong male lead!" Tomoyo wheedled. Eriol smiled slyly as Takashi began to see the light and added in his own two cents worth.

"Actually, I find myself inspired by the thought of you portraying me on stage. You, baring my soul for all the world to see, my darkness, my light, my… passion." Eriol grasped Takashi's hand in both of his, his eyes sparkling in a dead-on imitation of Tomoyo excited about magical girl Sakura. "It would have been an honor." He hung his head solemnly, turning as though he thought his offer would be rejected.

"I don't know, Eriol… chan. I'm not certain your life is worthy of my abilities." He joked.

"Oh Takashi-chan!" Eriol said, his voice lighter and pitched higher. "Who else could I trust with my very soul, my essence, but you? Who else can convey my pent-up frustration and misguided passionate, albeit creepy, fascination with magical girl Sakura in this skit. Truly… there's none for me but you!" he finished dramatically. Takashi reached up with his free hand to touch the side of Eriol's face in a whimsical manner, and fixed Eriol with a furtive look.

"I know your twisted ways inside and out. I understand now… it can only be me. How could I step away and leave you all alone… You can count on me, Eriol-chan."

Tomoyo's face had become increasingly odd-looking, as giggles bubbling up and threatening to spill out had been forcefully contained within her mouth. A small one creeped out now and then from the corner of her mouth, but luckily it sounded merely like a high squeaking coming from the windows. Her hand was over her mouth as though it could contain the laughter that was inevitably coming.

Sakura's eyes were wide at this point in the conversation and Rika said softly, "Oh my" just after Takashi finished speaking about Eriol's wicked ways.

Naoko, seated in the back just behind Takashi and always one of the gullible ones (along with Sakura) was flushing along with Chiharu. They were glued to the sight of the boys gazing at each other in adoration.

"Oh Takashi, never leave me… stay with me always." Eriol said, putting the icing on the extravagant cake, as usual.

"Oh Eriol-chan, this is beyond my wildest dreams." Takashi responded sincerely, devoutly, truthful-

"Oh PLEASE." Syaoran groaned. For a few seconds he had almost been fooled, but then snapped into reality. "Stop the madness". He buried his head in his hands

Upon hearing that, Tomoyo cracked. It was the last straw, seeing Takashi and Eriol's faces twitch oddly at Li's sudden outburst. Laughter rose wild, free, and unbidden from the reserved girl. It bounced through the room and she fell straight off the side of her chair. Not slid like Naoko earlier, but tumbled right out in a fit of laughs.

Naoko squealed excitedly as the boys turned back to their respective desks, pretending to blush humbly. As one of the editors of the student newspaper, she began to scribble fanatically the beginnings of a new school article, introducing Eriol and then his and Takashi's long distance (and long-lost) love.

Chiharu snapped out of her funk upon hearing Tomoyo go 'Thump!' on the floor. She grabbed Takashi's shoulder and turned him to face her before whacking him straight on the head. "Don't scare me like that, lying goofball." She said affectionately, smiling despite herself. She giggled herself, seeing Sakura's expression in the midst of the commotion. Sakura had obviously been completely taken in and had now gone into shock. Her surprise at the boys' supposed relationship had only become increasingly worse when an image of the reserved Tomoyo Daidouji rolling on the school floor, hiccupping with laughter had appeared right before her eyes.

"Syaoran… Um I think I'm going crazy-" She started hesitantly. She was cut off when Li flung his arms around her shoulders from behind. He clung to her as though she was his only lifeline to sanity.

"I knew this would happen the minute I saw him in here." He grumbled, amused despite the complaints. Sakura squeaked as he hung his head on her shoulder, seeking consolation. Li was the very picture of defeat. On the other hand, Sakura's chair was tipped back onto only two legs, causing her to yell a brief, "Hoe!" before he scooted his desk forward, so that he could grasp her while keeping her chair flat on the floor. Now that she had stopped yelling, Li called out around Sakura's shoulder, "Rika, stop the madness! My eyes are burning and _he's_ only been here ten minutes!"

Rika shared one last amused glance with Terada-sensei, who was, at the moment, still holding in his own laughter and unable to recover and instruct the class clearly. Therefore, seeing Rika get up to fix things, he opted to stay where he was, hiding behind his desk, until he had regained his composure.

The first thing Rika saw was Eriol surveying the room a little smugly, but also in true boyish fun (delight is too young a word for this incident). He turned to Rika after Li's comment, to see that her gaze was already on him. Rika inclined her head with a mysterious smile, acknowledging the fact that he had done the impossible, and gotten Tomoyo Daidouji to actually fall off her chair in raucous laughter. Eriol's face smiled innocently in response, as if to say, "Who, me? Why I didn't even know I was that good."

Meanwhile, Tomoyo's laughter had been winding down. She had almost gotten it under control, and begun to reach out to Sakura for help, however this had merely begun another round of hiccupping giggles. The sight of Sakura, helpless and restricted by the arms of Li, had been amusing. Sakura had ended up, like any good friend, trying to rise to the occasion and reach Tomoyo's outstretched hands. Syaoran had shifted his grip to wrap all the way around Sakura's arms. The result was that both her arms and his were wound around her, keeping the girl pinned.

Syaoran's response was what sent Tomoyo back over the edge. "Hoe!" he had responded to Sakura's attempt to aid Tomoyo, "Don't leave me!" His plaintive cries had inspired Tomoyo's latest round of snorts and hiccups. The comment left Tomoyo floundering around on the floor, sides aching, at the moment Rika and Eriol had exchanged glances.

Rika raised her eyebrows expectantly at this renewed burst of gasping for breath amid helpless and increasingly quieter laughter. She nodded pointedly towards Tomoyo, still facing Eriol. He sighed in an amused fashion and looked at the girl in front of him, who was clutching her stomach weakly at this point. Satisfied that he would clean up that portion of the chaos, Rika then surveyed Takashi and Chiharu. Noting that Chiharu had Takashi in hand, Rika moved out of her seat, which was on the other side of Tomoyo and in front of Takashi, and made her way to the back of the classroom, where Naoko sat alone in the back row, just behind Takashi and diagonal to Chiharu.

**A/N: Seating order for whoever is confused. The image looks, from the air, something like this:**

**1st row: Sakura... Tomoyo ...Rika**

**2nd row: Li ... ... ...Eriol ... ... Takashi... Chiharu**

**and the 3rd row: ... ... ... ... ... Naoko**

**It's homeroom so they sit where they want. Terada's desk is in front of Tomoyo and Rika, and the windows are next to Sakura and Li. Chiharu's the closest to the door. I tried to type this up so that the way the names look in front of you is the position the desks are in during the class. **

**Back to the story!**

"Honestly," Terada-sensei muttered to himself, watching Rika explain to Naoko that the whole thing had been a joke. "Years pass and Noako and Sakura are still completely taken in by those two."

Eriol, after sighing fondly at Tomoyo, had moved around his desk and knelt beside her.

"Shh, there there." He, in classic British style, brandished a handkerchief from God knows where, and dabbed at the tears still streaming down her face.

"Giggle hiccup GASP?" Tomoyo responded helplessly, hand flying over her mouth while she tried, vainly, to regain her composure. Her eyes were squeezed shut as muffled laughter was heard. "Haha, heeheehee!"

"No need to worry, dear heart." Eriol answered, saying the nickname in English. "He's only a lover on the side. You're the one I come home to." Rika sweatdropped in disbelief, immediately scolding herself for trusting him to actually stop the chaos. The rest of the class was immediately focused on the two of them. Tomoyo choked and coughed twice, laughter stopped short.

"Eriol!" She said, outraged and half serious but half in dramatization. "I! I… I'm so exhausted I can't even think of an acceptable answer to that." She finished, as he drew them both up. "Whew, what a start to the day. I hope this isn't a sign of the year to come, I'll never have the energy to make it through…" All the people in the room were still staring at them.

"You… go home to Tomoyo?" Naoko inquired tentatively. Rika looked surprised. She hadn't expected that. It seemed almost inappropriate, especially since the new Eriol was so… sexy.

Eriol shrugged and Tomoyo blushed as they took their seats. The entire class sweat-dropped as Naoko squealed and continued writing. Rika gave up and headed back to her seat, sending a helpless look towards Terada.

Li looked startled by the news, and he was frowning, his head propped up on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura dismissed the news, having already known that he, as the 'mysterious guest' was, as Tomoyo had put it, renting out a room in the Daidouji mansion. Her mind flew from the scene in front of her to something else that had been bothering her. She turned her chair, flinging Syaoran's arms off of her easily, now that he was distracted and his hold had loosened.

"Li. Syaoran." She began firmly, "I cannot _BELIEVE _you STOLE my phrase! Humph! Of all the nerve!" She ended in a huff, eyes gleaming in amusement, breaking through her stern façade. She spun back around smiling, looking pleased, entire body still tingling pleasantly from Li's embrace.

Chiharu knocked on Naoko's desk to get her attention, and gave the girl the evil eye as she snatched the paper that had been titled, "LONG DISTANCE AND LONG-LOST! Boys in love, a Tomoeda Times article". Crumpling it up, Chiharu tossed it into a trashcan near the door. Naoko, pouted and slouched in her seat. Rika, sensing that the class was as wound-down as they were going to get, opened her mouth.

"Ok, Terada-sensei." Came her warm words and fond smile, "Anything else for us to discuss before class lets out?"

……….

The bell rang ten minutes later, signaling the end of Homeroom. Everyone began chatting eagerly.

"So, Tomoyo, that's such an awesome idea you came up with. How do you do it?" Takashi said in earnest.

"Yeah, perfect characterization too! Magical Girl Sakura, I totally see that happening." Chiharu added.

"Imagine if it were true?" Naoko added, looking enthusiastic.

"Eh hehehe…" Tomoyo and Sakura answered, Sakura looking guilty and sheepish. The attention moved from the skit to Eriol as everyone greeted him for real, asked a few questions about his schedule, and then began to leave if they weren't heading in his direction. Eriol had announced to them that since he had a free period he was going to head towards Home Economics with Sakura, Li, and Rika, since he hadn't seen that wing of the school yet.

"I'll probably wander after their class begins." He said, waving to Tomoyo as she left with Naoko. "See you both in about an hour!"

The four began walking, Li and Sakura behind Eriol and Rika. Barely a minute away from their last class, Li had already caught, without so much as glancing down or pausing, two books and an earring. He had also fixed the zipper on Sakura's bag, which hadn't been closed all the way. For each mini-save Sakura had rewarded him with a glowing smile and a "Thank you Syaoran-kun! It would've been bad if I'd lost that!".

"So, Rika-chan," Eriol began after Syaoran had fixed the bag's zipper, "Do you remember me at all? Elementary school was so long ago, after all, and I only visited once."

"Hai, of course." The long-haired girl smiled, "You know, Eriol-kun, part of me wants to dismiss your return as a nice, simple, commonplace occurance. A cute coincidence, you and Li here again during the same year. Except that would make me a fool." She said this gently, and Eriol, rather than getting nervous, found himself relaxing. Even if this girl figured out more than he wanted her to, she was not the type to share her speculations with anyone he couldn't trust. "You know, Hiirigizawa-kun, there is a religion, I think I learned about it last year, I can't remember the name…" She trailed off, tapping her fingers against the book she carried absentmindedly. "Well it supports the notion that each person is reincarnated, reborn immediately each time they die. What I'm trying to get at is that the religion says that in each new life, and since each person's first life, everyone has this core group of close friends whose souls stay near to them each time they are reborn. They may be relatives one life, or friends the next, but some souls will always be near you. I like that idea. Have you heard of it?" She asked him, after relaying her story. Eriol, impressed, considered it. He had heard of that before.

"Yes. I also learned that, according to that, the people who are your closest friends or lovers in one life can become your worst enemy in the next. Apparently, the logic behind it is that the roles they play in your life are equally important." Eriol added.

"Not surprising." Li and Rika said, their responses in unison, but delivered completely differently. Li had said it in a dry tone, while Rika had responded thoughtfully.

Li, whose conversation with Sakura had died down, had tuned in when Rika started talking about rebirth and reincarnation. He looked at Rika now, surprised that they would share such a similar thought. Rika smiled to herself and Eriol inquired, getting over his own surprise that the both of them would have the same thought about him, "I'm sorry? What isn't surprising? I happen to believe that I'm a very complex individual. It's embarrassing to think that you both find me that predictable. How dull."

"I think they mean that your answer didn't surprise any of us. Not dull, just typical of you, Eriol-kun." Sakura chimed in, eyes kind and bright. Eriol raised his eyebrows, hardly thinking that was any better.

"Hai, exactly." Rika admitted, "Leave it to a person like you, Hiirigizawa, to point out the contradiction of a dear lover becoming an almost cherished enemy. Your mind jumped to the concept that most fascinated you." She explained her reasoning, and Eriol nodded in understanding, impressed that she came to that conclusion.

"I see. Someone like Sakura-chan would have probably gone on to point out how she thinks her group of friends are so much a part of her soul that she can believe that your story is true. Or maybe she would have listed the people she thought have been with her forever. You must study psychology, Rika-san. I'm certain that Li was simply taking the opportunity to gripe about my almost negative take, and how I passed up the opportunity to bond. However, your observations on my personality feel somewhat like an analysis." Sakura patted Li's shoulder in a sort of 'there, there' motion to sooth his ruffled emotions at being both dismissed and presented as an optimist in the space of one breath.

"Yes, actually, I want to be a psychiatrist. I read a lot on psychology." Rika answered, stopping in front of a door. "We're here."

Sakura pulled Li by his arm into a large Home Ec room. Rika looked at Eriol. "You know, Hiirigizawa-kun, the Eriol character that Tomoyo and Sakura proposed for our Autumn Festival skit would also be the kind of person to jump directly to an idea like that one. Not an enemy, he would say, merely someone whose soul has been close to Sakura's for centuries. Don't you think?"

Eriol's mouth curved and his eyes glinted at her as he examined her, this beautiful girl with intelligent doe-eyes, a gentle face, and an innocent but mysterious smile. "Well, Rika-san, he is based on me." There were no risky answers with a girl that was that trustworthy, he decided.

She nodded, accepting the response, and entered her classroom right on time. Eriol decided to go back the way he had come. He had a sports field and a coach to find.

………..

"Hey, Yamazaki-kun!" Li called as he made his way over to his friend. Takashi was all dressed for goal-keeping, gloves in hand.

"Hey, Li-san!" Takashi answered. "Want to shoot on me a bit before practice?" Syaoran nodded, dropping the soccer ball he was carrying to the grass. There were a few other guys out there messing around on the other side of the field already, but no coach.

The guys headed over to one of the goals and Li took a few shots. Suddenly, Takashi stopped, mid-throw, soccer ball in hand.

"Nani! Hiirigizawa-kun?" Takashi hollered, waving an arm over his head. Sure enough, Li turned and saw Eriol heading over to them. Eriol was wearing a typical PE outfit, nothing special, and he looked genuinely excited.

"Li-kun." He said, greeting his distant relative.

"Hiirigizawa." Li responded flatly. "I didn't know you still played."

"Hiirigizawa-kun!" Takashi shouted, running up to them, "I didn't think you'd want to play! You wrote me you were sick of playing for school teams in Britain!"

"Yes, well my school team was made up of a lot of poor futbol players." Eriol answered, grinning. "I've heard that this team is trying to be in the top four in all of Japan. So, I figured, since I'm already here… The coach told me that he'd see if I was any good before promising me anything."

Li frowned. The team had been practicing for over a week already. But, the school was required to make exceptions for transfer students and exchange students. And the team still had a week or two before their first game.

"All right Hiirigizawa. Let's see if you're any good." Li said. His face was set, and he looked almost excited, anticipating a challenge. "One on One, first person to score on Yamazaki-kun wins." They shook on it and Takashi ran off to the goal, ball in hand. Upon reaching his goalie box he stopped for a second, bounced the ball once, and punted it a short distance from the boys.

About five minutes later they had a small audience, comprised of players from the team, several cheerleader, including Chiharu, Naoko, and Sakura, and the coaches of the team. The score was 3 to 3 even with Takashi's numerous saves and, despite Li's rules about the first goal winning, they were still going.

A shrill whistle blew, halting all motion, just as Takashi made two incredible saves, one after the other, first saving a shot from Li and then a follow-up from Eriol.

"All right! Practice starts now! Hiirigizawa-kun we'll have a jersey for you tomorrow. Everybody, two laps around the field." The head coach hollered, and his team swung into action. Eriol grinned smugly as Sakura, Chiharu, and Naoko cheered, happy for him.

"Not bad, cousin." He said, running alongside Syaoran at the head of the group. Li didn't answer until they stopped their laps.

"Welcome to the team. It'll be a relief having someone else who doesn't know everyone by name, even if it is you." Li answered, grudgingly but honestly. "And I'm not your cousin."

…………..

By the end of practice Eriol was sore and tired. Syaoran, who normally held up well enough (even in the heat of summer) to go home and exercise for an extra hour with his weapons, was just as exhausted.

"Oh man, coach was a demon today!" Takashi groaned, yanking off his shirt and hanging it around his shoulders. His gloves had already been thrown on top of his bag. Li and Eriol followed suit, tossing their shirts on the ground at their feet.

Eriol bent over backwards, hands touching the ground, and came up onto his hands before pulling his arms in and tucking into a roll, bringing himself back up. "This was fun. You guys play hard. It's like being back on my club team in England. I haven't played with them in months." He grinned suddenly and looked to Li. "Look who just got out of their own practice."

Takashi grinned and waved at Chiharu. His girlfriend waved back and gave a loud wolf-whistle. Li blushed when he saw Sakura, along with Naoko and some other girls.

Eriol on the other hand, waved shamelessly, and jogged over to them. "Hey, Sakura-chan, Naoko-san, Chiharu-san. What's up. And who are these other lovely ladies?"

The girls giggled, a few blushing. Sakura looked as though she was trying not to admire a shirtless Eriol, and a single glance at Li, who was now approaching with a pissed-off look, fixed that.

"Damn, Eriol, nice abs." Chiharu answered, not at all embarrassed to be seen openly admiring him. "Oh, these are some other girls from our cheerleading team." Chiharu introduced them all by name. The last one, a 'Subaru Shina', looked him over boldly, rather than shying away like the others.

Then Li arrived, followed closely by Takashi. "Hey, don't I get a comment about my insanely hot bod?" Takashi asked his girlfriend disbelievingly.

"You're just too cute for words, baby, or I would." Chiharu answered.

"So congratulations getting on the team, Eriol-kun!" Sakura told him happily. Li was glaring at his distant relative reincarnated and standing just behind him, having stomped his way over. Sakura's face was getting increasingly flushed, and her gaze, although she was trying to look Eriol in the eye while she spoke with him, was obviously straying to Li's shirtless body. Li, as he began to notice this, stopped glaring at Eriol.

'Finally, dipshit'. Came Eriol's voice inside Li's head. 'I'm really not the one she's interested in looking at right now.'

Syaoran, shooting him one last glare as Eriol responded to Sakura's congratulations politely, looked back at the energetic girl he was crazy for. Her eyes flicked back to him and her pink face darkened a little more. His mouth curved upward wickedly.

"Hey, Sakura." Li spoke up, grinning at her. She looked at him, hooking her gaze onto his amber gaze, "Having trouble keeping your eyes on Hiirigizawa?"

'Wow.' Eriol's voice echoed one more time. 'How… Blunt. I thought you were shy and tongue-tied?'

Sakura squeaked in disbelief, caught off-guard. Noako laughed out loud with Chiharu in surprise and Takashi merely guffawed. The other girls looked a mixture of amused and disappointed that Li was obviously only interested in Sakura.

"NANI! Hoooeeee…" Sakura flushed completely crimson at that, covering her face with her hands. Li laughed a little, stepping forward.

"Whoa." Came Takashi's voice as he sidled over to whisper to Eriol. "Li is… smiling. A lot. He doesn't do that often, does he?"

Li pulled Sakura's hands away from her face. "I didn't mean you couldn't look." He swiveled a bit from side to side, pretending to pose confidently, "So. How is it? Maybe I should work out a little harder next week? My abs aren't as defined as they were before school started, I know…" He teased her. She snorted a bit, smiling again.

"Flirt!" The red left her face, "You caught me off-guard there, Syaoran-kun. I didn't know you'd gotten that bold. I still remember when we both used to blush like that." She answered indignantly. She looked him over, her cheeks still very pink. "I don't know, I think you're right. You look a little on the… porky side." Li facefaulted, looking crestfallen and Sakura cracked up.

"HAHAHA! Oh ahahaha! Gomen, gomen, I just couldn't keep that up! Wow, your face was great, Syaoran! No, seriously, Li-kun your body is excellent. I promise. Hoe, it's embarrassing just to look at." She said, controlling her laughter and then flushing again when she tried to look at him.

"You're just too cute and innocent for a bad boy like me. I understand." Li answered, hands up in the air in a, 'hey, what can you do?' manner. He teased her shortly in revenge for her daring to call him 'porky', but then couldn't resist another opportunity to make her blush. "And, Sakura." He tilted her head up a bit with his hand, still standing close to her. "It's called muscular. Not porky." He placed one of her hands on his arm. "All muscle." Sakura's hand squeezed involuntarily, testing the arm and then brushing over the skin as she yanked it back. Her face flushed again, ears and neck included, and she grabbed Naoko's arm, dragging the poor girl with her as she stepped around Syaoran. Naoko, in turn, grabbed Chiharu, and the rest of the girls, after sending longing glances back towards the two new incredibly sexy foreign students, followed.

"Bye, Takashi-kun!" Chiharu hollered, "I'll call you later!"

"Bye, Hiirigizawa-kun!" Came a second girl's voice, as one of the girls, Shina, called out to Eriol. She had been the slowest to begin walking away, "Let's talk tomorrow!"

The girls exited, en route to their locker room, and Takashi and Eriol turned to Li.

"Wow, Li." Yamazaki began in shock, smile gone, "I gotta be honest, I didn't expect that. Being that bold with Sakura… guys have tried to flirt with her before and she's been totally dense and blind to it. That's one way to get through."

"What happened to the embarrassingly cute helpless boy I used to know? You've turned into a wild flirt! Such an outrageously inappropriate boy is highly unfit to date our Sakura-chan!" Eriol said dramatically, throwing an arm over Li's shoulders. "I totally thought you were the type to never talk around a girl. How wrong I was…" He shook his head helplessly.

Syaoran threw Eriol's arm off. He still looked pleased. "Tomoyo-san was right, as usual. She told me that if I wasn't more direct, Sakura would never get it. I don't know… she's never had a boyfriend before. She might not even like me. I mean, she probably was just blushing like mad cause she's never been around a shirtless flirt before." Li sighed, his doubts sounding little melodramatic coming from a guy like Li, and he paced off towards his shirt. Eriol smiled slyly, glancing back towards the girl's locker room.

"Oh I don't think you need to worry about that." He commented quietly, although Li was out of earshot. Yamazaki heard him and snickered. It was obvious to both of them that Li and Sakura were a surefire couple.

"Hey Hiirigizawa are you really staying at Daidouji-san's house?" Takashi asked. Eriol nodded.

"Hey, Li bring me my shirt!" He called. Li glowered, but picked it up.

"Wow. Tomoyo was so familiar with you today. She's so cold towards any guys usually. It's like she doesn't know what to say unless she's getting them to do something for her. I mean she's fine around girls, I guess she just has no guy friends. Actually, most of the girls know her really well, they all respect her a lot. Anyway, it's just so weird that she'd let you stay in her house."

"Surely you don't mean she doesn't talk to any boys…" Eriol said skeptically.

"Well she talks to me… and she's friends with a few of the boys who are in the choir. You know, these two guys that go out together on the weekends. Ugh, you know what pisses me off, though? A bunch of guys are taking bets on whether or not she's a lesbian. Like I said she's totally cold towards any and all guys, with few exceptions. You know, she's smiling a lot more though… at least today she was. Tomoyo-san… she's so good at everything and successful, and she's got Sakura for a best friend so it's hard to tell… but she didn't seem very happy last year." Takashi told Eriol. "But living with a guy like you in the house… That's a way to liven up her life. Poor girl's either gonna go mad, or you're going to end up whipped, obeying her every whim." Takashi laughed. Li finally reached them, frowning, having heard most of what Takashi said.

"Hey." Li said, throwing Eriol's shirt at him, "Takashi, tell me more about this betting ring." Takashi gave Li a blank look and then answered, carefully and hesitantly. "It's just a really crude thing, a side joke that pops up once in a while. I always tell them to shut up, but… you know. There's one group betting she's a lesbian, a few guys that insist she's just a prudish virgin that's bitter cause she doesn't…" he coughed, embarrassed, "get any… Speculation about whether she only dates older men who are married, etc. etc. The usual ugly rumors. I don't really know why they targeted her…" He trailed off. Li was looking murderous.

"Do you know who they are?"

Takashi looked at him, sweating from both the heat and the pressure of looking a murderous Li Syaoran in the eyes. "Not all of them. I can give you a few names, but there's no way to know if it's the guys that started it, the ones that actually keep track of the small bets. Every month or so another guy tries to make a move, and that keeps people interested. It's sick, sort of, except Tomoyo knows how to handle herself. You'd have to walk in on a large circle of guys laughing about the next one if you want to do anything about it." Li looked furious, and he grabbed Takashi's shirt and hauled him in threateningly.

"Why!? Why didn't you do something, dammit!" He growled.

"Shut up." Eriol said darkly, pulling Li back seemingly effortlessly, but with an iron strength. "Obviously one guy versus more than three is stupid. There's not much he can do." Eriol's hand remained on Li's shoulder, with a vice-like grip. Li's anger began to drain out of him as he tried to think about how best to go about punishing the crude group of jocks.

"That's better." Eriol said almost soothingly. His voice sounded odd, slightly different. Li looked up, momentarily pissed again.

"You! HOW CAN YOU NOT-… care." Li's voice hushed again as he got a good look at Eriol's face for the first time since the conversation had begun. Takashi was already watching the dark-haired boy. Eriol's mouth was set in a slight sneer, his eyes narrowed. He looked scary. Not like he was going to snap and go kill the boys in a fit of anger, like Li. Oh no, he looked ready to torture them for a few years, maybe after planning carefully first. Li found himself almost wanting to back away, and nearly reached up to move Eriol's hand. Eriol released him before Li could move.

"Now that you're calm again, I might actually be willing to include you." Eriol said, nonchalant words belied by the cruel sneer and almost injured expression in his eyes. He began to walk back to the school and the other two followed.

"In what?" Takashi asked, curious, face still out-of character, looking completely serious.

"My plan, obviously. I think making them wish they were never born just isn't going far enough… I'll have to give it some thought." Eriol said offhandedly, clearing the sneer off his face in an attempt to at least look like he _wasn't_ seriously considering burying them alive.

Li nodded, actually in agreement with the sorcerer. "I'm still in favor of pounding them into the ground, but I suppose this kind of thing is what you do best."

"Hey, you wouldn't actually do something to seriously threaten their lives, would you?" Takashi asked, looking worried.

"Yamazaki-san." Eriol turned to him, looking absolutely frigid. "This is Daidouji Tomoyo we are talking about. I'll do what I need to do to make sure that they not only regret ever disrespecting her like that, but hopefully the end result will be that they respect her not, and respect all women, for that matter. That'll be the really tricky bit… hm. I'll have to discover who they are first, of course." Eriol looked off into the distance, mind already at work. "Don't worry, Yamazaki-kun. I can figure out for myself. I don't need you to try and spy or something. Asking that would be rude. I suppose they're just high school bullies as well… how depressing that this is probably only mindless fun for them."

Li looked at Takashi, whose nervous look had vanished. "Are you worried or something? Eriol and I won't get caught or anything. He's a fucking genius at coming up with plans like this. And it's not like we're doing anything illegal." Eriol's voice entered Li's mind again to give a soft snort of laughter. 'Not unless I can't find another way to make them feel genuinely contrite.' it whispered softly, cruelly. Li almost shivered, despite the bright sun and heat.

"We better not get caught. My parents would kill me. I'll warn you if I see anyone making moves on her in the next few weeks. Daidouji-san's a pretty beautiful girl, so I don't doubt that it'll be soon." Takashi responded. Seeing Eriol and Li's looks of surprise, he continued, smiling once again. "Come on, I've been wanting to beat up anyone who has so much as mentioned that dumb joke for years. There's this one guy who always snickers and makes a few lewd comments. I actually punched him once. Got in so much trouble…" Takashi shrugged. "So you have to let me help. Plus I always think in these situations: What would Chiharu do? And she would definitely want to take part in the ass-kicking. In fact if I mentioned any of this to her, she'd just tell me to go for it and pretend I hadn't told her anything." He smiled to himself fondly. "Kami, I love her."

"Sap." Li snorted at him, opening the door to the locker room. Eriol smiled, looking almost like a normal sweaty teenage boy again. The boys stopped their conversation short, seeing that there were still members of the team in there.

'Li keep your ears open these next few weeks.' Eriol's voice sounded once more in Syaoran's mind. 'Not all of them may know you're friends with her, since you're still new. Not likely that you'll hear much, but still…' Li nodded as he headed off to the showers, and Eriol smirked to himself as he merely put his shirt back on, picked up his bag of books and clothes, and left. He didn't have a locker, so he had nothing to shower with. He also really didn't want to change back into his school uniform. There was a certain long-haired and gorgeous someone who he could sense leaving the music room, however. Hopefully she'd let him walk back with her, even if he was sweaty and disgusting.

When he was almost to the front of the school, he paused, hands on his shirt. Should he take it off again…? It was pretty hot, after all… But she might clam up, or blush and simply refuse to talk. He just didn't know enough to be sure. It would make a much bigger impression if he stripped it off the moment she began to complain about the smell anyway. Yes, that was the best idea.

He nodded, satisfied, and stepped around the corner, on the way to an 'accidental' rendezvous with Tomoyo Daidouji.


End file.
